Redeeming the Fallen
by TheLastReckoning
Summary: After the mission on Horizon, the Illusive Man sent Shepard the dossiers for three more recruits. But what if another recruit had made the cut? This story will follow Aaron Sorenson, notorious bounty hunter, and the impact he'll have on the events of ME2 and ME3. Not a self-insert, just an OC insert in a slightly AU. [On permanent hiatus.]
1. Chapter 1: The Dossier

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! This is a story idea I've been thinking about for awhile, and I finally decided to put it to words. One big thing, this is NOT a self-insert, just an OC insert. If this story does well, and my readers respond positively, I plan on making this a full-fledged story.**

* * *

 _Cronos Station  
_ _04/30/2185_

Operative Maya Brooks stared at the holoscreen at her desk, her eyes darting around to read information she had already read dozens of times before. On the screen were the dossiers of four individuals, potential recruits for Commander Shepard's mission against the Collectors. She had been tasked with compiling the list of recruits, already having approved four others. Those recruits, the turian vigilante Archangel, the salarian professor Mordin Solus, the krogan super soldier (though he wasn't the initial option), and the convict Jack, had all agreed to join Shepard on his mission. The Illusive Man had been impressed with Brooks' work in picking recruits, so he ordered her to find another round. She had started out with about four dozen potential recruits, and condensed the list down to four. One of the recruits, the quarian engineer Tali'Zorah vas Neema, was a locked in choice. The Illusive Man had personally requested that her dossier be one of the finalists. His reasoning was, the more people on the team that Shepard had a past with, the more comfortable he would be working for Cerberus.

Shepard had already made his stance on Cerberus very clear to both the Illusive Man and Operative Miranda Lawson. To put it lightly, he wasn't a fan of the organization. Archangel had turned out to be his old team member Garrus Vakarian, an unexpected stroke of luck for the Illusive Man. By adding Tali'Zorah as another recruit, Shepard would have another friendly face and trusted individual aboard the now Cerberus-controlled _Normandy_. Operative Lawson had included in one of her regular reports that she suspected intimate feelings were present between Shepard and Tali, based on their reunion on Freedom's Progress. She explained that their interactions with each other were too emotional and heartfelt for what would be expected of two former squadmates, or even close friends. Even though, to Tali'Zorah, Shepard had been dead for two years, Lawson had made it clear that the high level of emotions hinted at romantic feelings between the two. Shepard's reunion with Garrus Vakarian, his best friend, hadn't been as emotional, she pointed out. All these reasons combined resulted in the Illusive Man metaphorically throwing Shepard a bone. He wanted Shepard to know that, like a dog, he would be rewarded for good behavior.

So aside from the quarian, that left three other recruits to choose from. The Illusive Man wanted three total, so that left one to be eliminated. And that problem resulted in her reviewing the three individuals' dossiers over and over again. There was no doubt in Brooks' mind that these three were the best of the original pool. The question was which of the three was the least valuable. They each had their strengths and weaknesses, each could benefit Shepard's team in a different way.

 _Thane Krios, drell assassin, rumored to be the best in the galaxy. Proficient at long range, close-quarters, and hand-to-hand combat._ Brooks reviewed the information in her mind. _Samara, asari justicar, biotic power rivaled by only the most powerful asari matriarchs. That just leaves…_

"Brooks, have you finished compiling those dossiers for the Illusive Man yet?" a voice behind her asked, startling her from her thoughts.

The voice belonged to Operative Victoria Bryant, Brooks' immediate superior.

"Not yet, ma'am. I'm still trying to condense the list down to three." she answered, turning to face and salute the officer.

Bryant looked impatient, "Well how many do you have now? The Illusive Man said he wants those files ASAP."

Brooks turned back to her holoscreen and pointed to the dossiers, "Four, I know Tali'Zorah is a lock in, I'm just having trouble striking one of the other three. I'm leaning towards getting rid of…"

"Just send the Illusive Man those four. We don't have time to waste getting rid of one more." Bryant interrupted. "I know he said three, but one more recruit won't hurt. If it's that big of a deal, either he or Shepard can get rid of one."

"Yes, ma'am." Brooks responded, sending the list of four to the Illusive Man. _Well, glad that's over with_.

* * *

 _The Normandy SR-2_

"I've forwarded you four more dossiers. Keep building your team while I find a way through the Omega 4 Relay." the Illusive Man stated. "And be careful, Shepard. The Collectors will be watching you."

Shepard didn't reply as the Illusive Man terminated the QEC connection. He just stared back into the Illusive Man's unnatural blue eyes as his form faded away . Though he didn't express it outwardly, he was seething with anger. Shepard and his team had just gotten back from their mission on Horizon, a mission that had felt like a trap the entire time. As it turns out, his feeling was right, the Illusive Man confirmed that the plan was to lure the Collectors to Horizon. Shepard and his team, along with Ashley Williams, who had been assigned to the colony by the Alliance, all acted as bait for the Collectors. And they completely took that bait. Shepard had hammered the point home during his conversation with the Illusive Man that he was furious with the lives of his team, and the lives of the colonists, being put at risk like that. The Illusive Man had nonchalantly brushed his concerns aside, saying that it was all part of his master plan.

When the Illusive Man's form finally faded away, Shepard closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath to calm the inferno inside him. He was the commander of the _Normandy_ , he couldn't let his rage be seen or detected by the rest of the crew. Shepard was supposed to appear calm and in control at all times, that included being in control of his emotions. He walked out of the conference room and through the Armory to the CIC, giving Jacob a friendly nod as he passed.

 _Whose bright idea was it to not put the armory near the shuttle hangar? Cerberus definitely could take some notes from Alliance design._ he thought.

Shepard checked his emails, and seeing as there were no new ones, he closed his private terminal. After checking in with Kelly Chambers, who had nothing new to report regarding the crew, he boarded the elevator to his personal cabin. Shepard immediately fed his fish as he entered, a habit that he formed right after his first set of fish had unfortunately died from starvation. He smiled as he watched the exotic fish gobble up the flakes of food. Shepard enjoyed watching his fish as they swam around blissfully, though he had to admit they left something to be desired in terms of meaningful interaction. He would love to have a dog onboard, but that would create too many problems, namely where it would go to the bathroom.

Shepard took a bottle of water from his mini refrigerator and sat down at his desk. He took a quick gulp as he pulled up the four dossiers the Illusive Man sent him. Shepard had been pleasantly surprised with how the previous four recruits had turned out in terms of their combat ability. He was ecstatic when Archangel turned out to be Garrus, extremely grateful to have a close friend on the team while being surrounded by Cerberus operatives and personnel. Mordin's knowledge had be invaluable, Grunt's combat prowess was unmatched, and Jack's biotic abilities were second to none. As far as those three's personalities, the jury was still out on that. Mordin seemed like a good man, but his talk of the genophage was a bit unsettling. Grunt seemed a little too obsessed with killing and violence, even for a krogan. There was also the matter of the poor first impression Grunt left, where he had tried to kill Shepard. Jack seemed mentally unstable, and shared Grunt's unhealthy obsession for killing and violence. Her attitude, her outfit (or more appropriate, lack thereof), and failed attempt to sleep with Shepard combined with her mental situation left him with a very uneasy feeling towards her. Garrus was the only one he knew closely and trusted unconditionally, but even he seemed a bit different. With the three others, Shepard hoped that either their personal problems wouldn't be a detriment to the mission, or at least their tactical usefulness would outweigh their problems.

Shepard thoughts were instantly brightened when he read the first name on the list of recruits.

He smiled as he read the name aloud, "Tali."

Shepard remembered back to their heartfelt reunion on Freedom's Progress, another addition to the extensive number of pleasant memories he had of her. Save for Garrus, Tali had been his closest friend on the original _Normandy_. Shepard's smile grew even wider when he reminisced of all the good times he shared with her two years ago. Their talks down in Engineering, the laughs they shared in the mess hall, their banter on missions. How Tali's eyes light up when he gave her the geth data they retrieved on one of their missions as a pilgrimage gift. Tali had been the one to console him the most after Kaidan's death on Virmire, and he remembered the two hugging for what felt like an eternity. He truly cared deeply about her, and would be lying if he said he had no romantic feelings for her. And now, Shepard had the opportunity to recruit her for a second time.

Shepard eventually moved on to the other names. Thane Krios, drell assassin. Samara, asari justicar. After he read those two dossiers fully, he pulled up the last one on the screen.

 _ **Name:** Aaron Sorenson  
_ _ **Species:** Human  
_ _ **Race:** White  
_ _ **Gender:** Male  
_ _ **Date of Birth:** 04/16/2159  
_ _ **Height:** 6' 1" (Last official record taken on 5/30/2178, current height estimated to be similar)  
_ _ **Weight:** 207 lbs (Last official record taken on 5/30/2178, current weight estimated to be similar)  
_ _ **Hair Color:** Dark Brown  
_ _ **Eye Color:** Green  
_ _ **Profession:** Bounty Hunter  
_ _ **Current Location:** The Citadel_

 _ **Professional Background:** Enlisted in the Alliance Marines in 2177. Dishonorably discharged in 2178 following events of the Torfan Campaign. _

_**Combat Style:** Proficient in medium range, close-quarters, and hand-to-hand combat. Utilizes assault rifles and heavy pistols. No biotic ability, limited tech abilities. _

After reading the dossier for Aaron, Shepard's eyes darted back and forth between two phrases. Dishonorably discharged. Torfan Campaign. Shepard leaned all the way back in his chair and rubbed his face with one hand.

 _Great, just great. Nice work, Illusive Man, just the type of guy I need._ he mused.

Shepard hadn't been there, he remembered reading about and seeing coverage of the events of Torfan on the news all those years ago. The Alliance had attacked the final remaining batarian slaver and pirate stronghold in Citadel space, located on a small moon called Torfan. However, these were no random batarians, these were the ones responsible for the Skyllian Blitz, for what happened on Elysium. Shepard had initially been happy to hear that those batarians got wiped, having been present on Elysium himself during the attack. However, a few days after the attack on Torfan, it was revealed that a platoon of Alliance marines had massacred unarmed slavers and pirates who were trying to surrender. When the investigation was over, around 30 marines had been dishonorably discharged, some actually had faced prison time. Shepard just hoped this Sorenson guy wasn't one of the few that had been in prison. The _Normandy_ already had too many convicts.

A thought popped into Shepard's head, and he leaned forward again to see his terminal. He placed his elbow on his desk and cupped his hand around his chin, his eyes staring at the screen. Aaron Sorenson was born in 2159, and Torfan happened in 2178. A quick calculation in Shepard's head determined that Sorenson was just 19 years old when he was at Torfan.

 _Jesus Christ, just 19 years old. He was barely an adult._ Shepard thought.

He decided to go recruit Tali first, telling Joker to set a course for Haestrom. After that, they would refuel and resupply at the Citadel, and try to recruit Aaron.

* * *

 _05/06/2185  
_ _Kithoi Ward, The Citadel_

Aaron's omnitool began beeping incessantly as the alarm app went off. He rose his head a little off the pillow and struggled to open his tired eyes. Aaron brushed a few strands of hair back off his forehead, and was a bit surprised to see a blue arm draped over his chest. He turned his head to find the arm belonged to a naked asari sleeping close next to him, her head lying on his shoulder. She appeared to be in her maiden stage. As Aaron slowly began to recall the events of the previous night, the sight of a naked woman in his bed became less surprising. He remembered going out to a bar, chatting up the asari now lying next to him, and bringing her back to his hotel room. Aaron's and her current states of undress were enough to give him an idea of what transpired after they arrived. Aaron slowly got out of bed, trying to not wake the asari next to him. His plan was to slip out of the room undetected, hoping that when she woke up, she would take the hint and leave. Despite his best efforts, he stirred the bed just enough to shake the woman from her slumber.

 _Dammit._ Aaron thought.

"Hey baby, _what_ a night!" the asari greeted, a smile on her face.

"Best night I've had in awhile." He lied, faking a smile. _It was average_.

A puzzled look came across her face as she noticed Aaron getting dressed.

"Where are you going, Aaron?" the asari asked.

For the life of him, he couldn't remember her name.

Aaron looked up from putting on his pants, "I just have some work I have to take care of."

"Oh… well, I really enjoyed last night. Would you be free to do something again tonight?" she asked.

He gave her his signature charming smile, though it was forced. A smile which, combined with his natural charisma and handsome looks, could get him anything he wanted.

"Of course, babe." he lied as he put on his plain, gray t-shirt. _Oh, I'll be free. Just won't be with you._

The asari smiled a cute smile back, "Great, so you'll call me tonight? You have my number, right?"

Aaron pulled up his omnitool and scrolled through his contact list, looking for one he didn't recognize. He spotted one, with the name 'Kalena'.

 _Kalena, that's her name!_ "Got it right here, Kalena." Aaron said, showing her the contact.

He turned around, hiding his omnitool from Kalena, and promptly deleted her contact info as he put on his favorite black leather jacket. Just his style, to say he hated modern, form-fitting clothes was an understatement.

"Alright, then I'll see you tonight!" Kalena said joyfully.

"Yes, you will." he replied as he finished lacing up his brown combat boots, tucking his black jeans into them. _No, you won't_.

He paused as he picked up his dog tags, the ones he'd been issued during his time in the Alliance Marines, and slipped them around his neck. Aaron grabbed his Carnifex heavy pistol and holstered it to his right hip. He quickly stopped in the bathroom, checking himself in the mirror. He slicked back his dark brown hair with his hand, which had fallen onto his forehead. Noticing it was about three and a half inches long on all sides, Aaron vowed to get a trim soon. His beard was getting a bit scraggly as well, and could also use a trim. Satisfied with his appearance, he walked out the door of the hotel room, hearing Kalena yell goodbye. Aaron looked down and shook his head, smiling, as he couldn't believe she had fallen for his lies. As he checked out in the lobby, he thought about how surprised Kalena would be when housekeeping showed up. As Aaron stepped outside the hotel, he promptly hailed a taxi, and was off to Zakera Ward.

* * *

 _Zakera Ward, The Citadel_

Aaron paid the taxi driver and got out of the skycar. He got in line for Zakera Ward Customs, which surprisingly wasn't as long as he had expected. Security had been tightened all over the Citadel after the geth attack two years ago. Now, movement between wards for civilians was a hassle. Aaron just thanked God that he wasn't on the Citadel at the time when the geth and their massive ship attacked. Before he knew it, he was the next in line for the customs agent.

"Do you have a permit for that weapon, sir?" The female agent asked, sounding and looking as though her entire job irritated her.

"Yeah, right here." Aaron responded, pulling up his permit on his omnitool.

Confirming that it was legitimate, the agent waved him through. Gun laws were pretty strict on the Citadel, with special permits required for each weapon owned. In his line of work, they were just a hassle to acquire and a waste of money. As Aaron stepped into the biometric scanner, he just hoped his trip to Zakera would be more pleasant than his last. He had had a run in with C-Sec a year ago, which ended in a four hour long holding in a cell. The flashing red lights and sirens that he set off confirmed that this trip would, in fact, be like his last. Aaron threw up his hands in disgust.

"Oh, for _fuck's_ sake!" he yelled.

C-Sec officers came bursting through the doors, guns drawn.

"Get down on your knees!" a turian officer barked.

Aaron reluctantly complied, knowing it was better not to get into an altercation with C-Sec officers. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and his pistol was confiscated.

"Hey, that's legal, asshole! I have a permit for that, you can't take it!" he shouted over the sirens.

The human officer either didn't hear or didn't care about Aaron's protests, as he walked away with his pistol. The remaining officers lifted him to his feet, and walked him into the C-Sec office. Sitting behind a desk, a smug look on his face, was Captain Armando Bailey.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. Welcome back to Zakera Ward, Mr. Sorenson." he greeted sarcastically.

"Fuck you, Bailey! I know what you're doing, I haven't forgotten what happened a year ago." Aaron spat back. "My weapon permit is up to date, same with my bounty hunter license. Let me go, asshole, I know my rights!"

Everything he said was the truth. The Citadel Department of Justice, which controlled C-Sec, among other agencies, knew there was a crime problem on the Citadel. They also knew that C-Sec didn't have the manpower, or the resources, to solve the problem. So they authorized bounties to be placed on criminals deemed worthy of one, which there was never a shortage of. The entire process was tightly controlled, with each bounty hunter needing a license that had to be reissued every year. There was a stipulation that C-Sec could hold anyone suspected off not having a bounty hunter license. Bailey pulled that trick every time a well-known hunter like Aaron passed through Zakera Ward. For reasons unknown to him, Bailey hated bounty hunters. Maybe he thought C-Sec was capable of handling the crime problem, or perhaps he didn't like the idea of civilians going after hardened criminals. Either way, Aaron thought it was bullshit.

"Don't worry Mr. Sorenson, I'm sure everything is in order. I'm just doing my duty to confirm that it is." Bailey stated. "If all your permits and licenses are up to date, you'll be free to go. Although, we are pretty busy today, and our extranet connection is a bit iffy, so it might take a while."

Aaron wanted nothing more than to smack the stupid grin off Bailey's face.

"Goddammit Bailey, don't you have bigger things to worry about? I think Zakera Ward still has the highest murder rate of all the wards." Aaron retorted. "Glad to know that C-Sec is using it's resources to keep citizens like myself safe. And not wasting them on harassing a legal bounty hunter!"

He shouted the last part to make sure everyone within earshot heard it.

"Officers, put Mr. Sorenson here in holding cell four." Bailey ordered.

"Fuck you, Bailey! Your wife's a whore!" Aaron shouted as the officers forced him away.

He didn't really know if Bailey's wife was a whore, he just said anything he thought would get under Bailey's skin.

"You're right, that's why I divorced her!" Bailey called out to him, chuckling slightly.

 _Dammit._ Aaron thought, upset that his insult didn't have his desired effect.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Alright, so now you've met and gotten a glimpse of Aaron Sorenson, bounty hunter, womanizer, and borderline asshole. Let me know what you think of Aaron and the story premise in a review! If you all like the character and the story idea, I will continue writing!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Recruitment

_05/06/2185  
_ _Zakera Ward, The Citadel_

Aaron's stay in C-Sec ended up being five hours long this year. When he was released, the officers told him the reason for his extended stay was 'the red tape of bureaucracy'. Aaron knew the reason was bullshit, Bailey most likely took pleasure in hearing him yell obscenities and pound on the holding cell door. His Carnifex was returned to him as he left, but oddly without the thermal clip that had been loaded in it. Just one last insult from C-Sec. Aaron made sure to give Bailey the finger on his way out of the C-Sec office, telling him to 'eat shit'. Once free from his 'legal' internment, he took in the sights of Zakera Ward for the first time in a year. A lot had changed since Aaron was last there, the damage caused by the geth and their dreadnought attack was almost fully repaired. To be fair, Zakera Ward was the most repaired of any ward, some areas of the other wards still being cleared of debris.

Checking the time on his omnitool, he noted that he had a few more hours before he had to act. Aaron had made sure to give himself ample time to get situated in Zakera Ward, having planned on Bailey being a pain in the ass. Feeling his stomach grumble, he looked around for the nearest restaurant. Aaron saw the Zakera Cafe just a few shops down, and decided to head there for lunch. Once he got inside, he overheard a conversation between a human customer and the turian working the counter.

"I heard this place has the best food in Zakera Ward." the human said.

The turian scoffed, "You heard wrong, this place has the best food on the whole damn Citadel."

 _I'm sure of that…_ Aaron thought.

The human ahead of him in line ordered, then he was next up.

"You guys serve levo food, right?" Aaron asked.

The turian looked at him as if he was stupid, "No, the human who ordered before you was actively trying to _poison_ himself."

"Hey, watch it, smartass. I'll take a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a beer." Aaron replied.

He paid the shopkeeper, 'forgetting' to leave a tip, and took a seat while waiting for his order number to be called.

While he was waiting he decided to go over his case notes again. His target was a salarian named Paetal Pojao, a notorious drug manufacturer wanted for selling red sand on the Citadel. Based off his research, Aaron traced his operations to a warehouse in Zakera Ward. Paetal had most likely hired outside help for security, perhaps the Blue Suns or Eclipse. Aaron had dealt with both groups numerous times in the past, they wouldn't be a problem. After dealing with his security, Aaron would just have to deliver Paetal to a C-Sec office and claim the bounty. A 30,000 credit payday, or 15,000 if he couldn't capture Paetal alive. Aaron fully intended on being paid 30,000. One of the workers in Zakera Cafe called his order number, and he went up and got his meal. Aaron ate in silence as he finished reviewing his notes.

 _That turian was right, this burger is pretty damn good_. he thought.

After finishing his meal, Aaron exited the cafe and began heading to the location of his weapon and armor cache. He kept all his gear in one of the many self-storage places in the ward, in a garage rented under a fake name.

Instead of taking the fast, direct route, Aaron opted to duck and weave through alleys and less traveled walkways. The last thing he needed was some C-Sec officer tailing him to a garage full of illegal military-grade weapons, combat armor, and grenades. That would surely cost him his bounty hunter license and land him in prison. After doubling back a few times and constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed, Aaron arrived at the self-storage lot. He opened the lock to his unit with his omnitool, immediately shutting and locking the door behind him. Aaron flicked on the lights, and the small garage was illuminated. He undressed down to his boxers and put on his under-armor bodysuit, followed by the combat armor itself. The next piece of gear Aaron put on was his favorite, the one bit that gave him an edge over every other bounty hunter in Council space. The boot-mounted rocket boosters he had stolen off a dead Cerberus operative a while ago. When Aaron had a run in with Cerberus and saw a few operatives using them, he knew he had to have a pair. He personally modified them to provide greater thrust, enabling him to make small rocket-jumps in addition to soft landings. Grabbing ahold of one of the Avenger assault rifles, Aaron only needed one more piece of gear. The brown leather knee-length duster coat he always wore over his combat armor, in order to hide all his illegal equipment from curious eyes. He swung it over his shoulders and left it unbuttoned in the front. After completing his pre-mission routine of arm stretches, leg stretches, and checking all his gear twice, he set off to get paid.

* * *

 _In between wards, The Citadel_

Shepard, Tali, and Garrus all sat in a skycar taxi, headed to Zakera Ward.

"Okay team, we're here to recruit a bounty hunter named Aaron Sorenson. Intel suggests he's on Zakera Ward right now." Shepard stated, sending Aaron's dossier to Tali and Garrus.

Both read it over carefully in order to know as much about the potential recruit as possible. Shepard had picked up Tali a few days prior, and both were ecstatic to be together again. Not only working together, but just being near each other. Immediately after escaping from Haestrom, Shepard had set course for the Citadel. Giving the rest of the crew shore leave while the Normandy refueled and resupplied, Shepard, Tali, and Garrus had set off to recruit Aaron. Shepard had chosen those two for specific reasons. Miranda still wasn't exactly a team player, and he was afraid her devotion to Cerberus might scare off Aaron. Jacob held a grudge against assassin, mercs, and bounty hunters. Jack and Grunt weren't subtle enough for a mission like this. Mordin was busy in his lab. So that left Tali and Garrus, luckily they were his preferred duo. Plus, Shepard just wanted to spend some extra time with Tali, who felt the same way.

The taxi dropped them off just outside Zakera Ward, and Shepard's Spectre clearance got them through customs without any issues. As he walked into the C-Sec office, he hoped someone would have a lead on Aaron's location.

"Captain Bailey, good to see you again." Shepard greeted as he stepped up to the captain's desk.

"Likewise, Shepard. What can I do for you?" Bailey asked.

Shepard activated his omnitool to show the picture he was provided of Aaron, "I'm looking to recruit this bounty hunter to my team, his name is Aaron Sorenson. I was hoping you or someone else could provide a lead on his location."

Bailey's eyes widened, " _That_ asshole? If you don't mind me asking, why him specifically? There are plenty of other bounty hunters on the Citadel."

"Well, I don't want just some bounty hunter, I want the best. And from what I hear, he's the best." Shepard answered.

"I guess I can't argue that. C-Sec keeps track of all the bounties we pay out, and Sorenson always tops the monthly payout lists." Bailey stated. "It's a shame you came when you did, Commander. We just released him from custody a few hours ago."

Tali raised an eyebrow, "Released him?"

Bailey nodded, "We were just making sure his bounty hunter license and weapon permit were up to date. Unfortunately, that bastard had everything in order."

"Seems like you aren't a fan of him." Garrus noted.

"That's putting it lightly, you'll be making my life a lot better if you take him far away from Zakera Ward. Luckily for you, we managed to figure out who he's after." Bailey responded. "Sorenson is after a salarian drug manufacturer named Paetal Pojao. He believes the salarian is operating out of the lower wards, at these coordinates."

"How'd you figure all this out?" Shepard asked, not believing a bounty hunter would give out information like this.

"Sorenson told us. Or rather, he yelled that he was doing our job for us from his cell, among other, less pleasant things." Bailey answered.

After thanking Bailey for his helpfulness, the trio headed for the coordinates the captain had given them.

* * *

 _Lower Zakera Wards_

Aaron peered around the corner of a building adjacent to the warehouse. From the outside, the building appeared completely inconspicuous. That was to be expected, no criminal with half a brain would station hired mercs outside. On a place like the Citadel, seeing Blue Suns or Eclipse troopers standing around a building would raise too many red flags. Aaron snuck around to the back of the warehouse, spotting several loading bays. They were all closed and locked, no outgoing shipments at the moment.

 _Perfect, don't need any extra mercs around_. he thought.

The bounty hunter carefully made his way to a side door, and attempted to hack the lock. He failed numerous times, cursing at himself.

 _Oh well, time to go loud._ Aaron decided.

Reaching to the small of his back, he pulled out a stick of explosive compound. After placing it directly on the center of the door and configuring the detonator to his omnitool, Aaron cleared the blast zone. He triggered the explosives, and the door blew open. Aaron didn't instantly run inside, guns blazing, like some less experienced hunters would. The sound of the blast had most likely been heard throughout the warehouse, sending all the mercs into cover. They were waiting for someone to charge in, where they would ambush them. Instead, Aaron waited until they came to investigate.

After a minute or so, he heard the sound of footsteps running down the entrance hallway.

"Ma'am, the rear entrance has been blown open, but there's no sign of any intruders." a distinctly salarian voice stated into his comms.

 _Salarians, that means it's Eclipse._ Aaron noted.

"You two, go scout outside." the same voice ordered.

Aaron prepared a flashbang grenade, _Time to go to work._

He flung the grenade down the hallway, hearing the mercs inside react to it's presence. They were too late, as the flashbang detonated and blinded them. Aaron again waited to go inside, just now pulling out his assault rifle. As expected, the mercs began firing blindly down the hallway, hoping to hit anyone coming through. He entered the second the firing ceased. Once inside, Aaron made quick work of the disorientated mercs. Checking their comms channel on one of their omnitools, he patched himself into their network.

"Cekaf! What the hell is going on down there, Team One?" another voice asked into the comms.

She received no answer. Aaron sprinted down the hallway, shoving a human merc into the wall and shooting him in the head as he rounded a corner.

"Shit, we have company! Team Three, move Pojao into his office and bunker down there!" the same female voice from before ordered. "Teams Two and Four, stop the intruder!"

 _Three mercs in Team One, maybe four if that human was a straggler. Four teams total, the number of mercs is 12 to 16._ Aaron calculated. _Four down, only eight to 12 remaining._

As he came to the main area of operations, he could smell an odor he'd smelled numerous times before. The smell of the production of red sand. Loading a fresh thermal clip into his assault rifle, Aaron turned the corner into the production area. He immediately came under fire from six Eclipse troopers, a few round ricocheting off his shields. Aaron noticed a catwalk that ran along the second floor of the production area, and figured that would be an excellent firing position. After his shields had fully recharged, he sprinted for the nearest catwalk. As Aaron approached, he jumped and activated his rocket boosters, sending him flying up into the air. The propulsion only lasted a few seconds, but it gave him enough lift to land with a roll onto the catwalk. Aaron took cover behind a nearby crate, and opened fire on the now exposed mercs, their cover negated by his firing position. Through a combination of bullets and a grenade, the six troopers were eliminated. The bodies of three asari, two salarians, and one human lay scattered on the ground, various colored blood pooling beneath them.

 _All that's left is team three_. he noted.

The production area fell silent, and Aaron saw Paetal's office on the other side of the building. He began jogging there as the comms came to life again.

"Teams Two and Four, report! I don't hear any gunfire, did you stop the intruder?" the female leader asked.

Aaron decided to introduce himself.

"Sorry, sweetheart, they can't talk right now. You can talk to me instead." he replied.

"Goddess dammit! You're dead, you hear me?" the Eclipse leader yelled.

"Oh come on, baby, don't be like that. I just want Paetal, give him to me and the rest of you can walk." he offered.

"Like hell, you fucker!" she responded, closing the line.

 _Your choice, bitch_. Aaron thought.

As he closed on Paetal's office, he noticed it had a door in the middle and two windows on either side. Aaron took inventory, and saw he had two flashbangs, three smoke grenades, and one stick of explosive compound left. Aaron crouched down as he approached the office, and kneeled underneath one of the windows. The office wasn't large at all, and he could hear the presumably asari leader barking orders to her troops. Aaron ran through possible attack scenarios in his head, picking the best one. He prepared a smoke grenade with one hand, taking out his Carnifex with the other. He aimed at the window on the other side of the door, and fired four rounds through it as a distraction.

It worked, and four guns fired round after round through the other window and the wall around it. While they were distracted, Aaron fired two rounds through the window he was underneath and tossed the smoke grenade inside. As smoke filled the room, the mercs started yelling and coughing. Aaron quickly put on his rebreather mask, outfitted with infrared goggles, and placed the stick of explosive on the door. He detonated the explosives, sending the door flying back into the office. He heard screaming from inside the room, and assumed the door must've hit one of the mercs. The troopers fired blindly into the smokescreen, deafened from the explosion. Aaron calmly crawled into the office, and made out the figures of two asari and two humans. One of the humans was lying on the ground, the mangled office door on top of them. Aaron fired three bursts from his rifle, killing the three still-standing mercs. As the smoke began to clear, he searched the office for Paetel. Aaron found him hiding underneath his desk, eyes closed and hands over his ears. He forcefully pulled the salarian out from under the desk and pinned him to the ground.

"Hey, you don't have to do this! Whatever you're being paid, I'll double, no, triple it!" Paetal pleaded as Aaron put omni-cuffs around his wrists.

Aaron took off his rebreather mask and shook his head, "No can do, Paetal. I have a reputation to uphold."

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Paetal asked.

Aaron smiled, "I'm Aaron Sorenson."

Paetal just stared at him for a few moments, blinking a couple times.

"I'm sorry, should I know you?" Paetal inquired.

Aaron threw up his hands in disgust, " _Come on_ , man! _Aaron Sorenson_ , famous bounty hunter? Best in Council space?"

Paetal blinked a few more times, "Sorry, never heard of you."

Aaron genuinely was shocked that Paetal didn't know who he was.

"Dude, you're _killing_ me here. The Citadel Times interviewed me and ran a story about me a few months ago." he stated, trying to jog Paetal's memory. "My face was on the cover! Here, I saved the article to my omnitool, take a look."

Aaron pulled up his omnitool, and sure enough, The Citadel Times had run a cover story of him on 01/23/2185. The headline read 'The New Face of Justice', with 'Meet Aaron Sorenson, arguably the best bounty hunter on the Citadel' as the sub-headline. A picture of him, facing the camera, smiling his natural charismatic smile, holding his Carnifex across his chest at a 45 degree angle graced the cover. The Citadel Times was the most popular newspaper on the Citadel, yet criminals like Paetal didn't regularly read the news.

"Um… good for you?" Paetal said, not sure how to respond.

"Oh, don't worry, we'll read the article together on the taxi ride over to C-Sec. We should check out the comments section too, I have a good number of… _admirers_." Aaron stated.

He smiled as he remembered reading the things the women of the Citadel had written about him. Suddenly, a voice behind him shook him from his reminiscing about the comments.

"Are you Aaron Sorenson?" a male voice asked.

Aaron was initially happy to hear that someone knew who he was, but that feeling was replaced by fear, as there was supposed to be no one else in the warehouse. He immediately whipped out his Carnifex and whirled around to see a human, turian, and oddly a quarian, standing just inside the office entrance. They were heavily armed, but didn't have their guns drawn as they walked in. That changed when they saw Aaron pointing a Carnifex at them.

"That depends, who's asking?" Aaron questioned.

"I'm Commander Shepard, I'd like to recruit you to my team. We're just here to talk, that's it." the human stated.

He nodded to the turian and quarian, and all three lowered their weapons.

 _Commander Shepard, right… he died two years ago. What idiot does this asshole take me for?_ Aaron thought. "Alright, we can talk. Just let me help my bounty to his feet."

Aaron bent down, and instead of picking up Paetal, he instead threw another smoke grenade. As the grenade went off, he jumped out the office window and into the alley outside. Aaron activated his boosters to give him a soft landing, and then took off running. The office was only on the second floor, so the three others were able to jump down into the alley right after him. The only people who knew where Aaron was were C-Sec and Eclipse, and he didn't want to stick around and find out which group the three belonged to. He dipped and weaved through alleyways, knocking over anything he could find, trying to make it as hard as possible for them to keep up with him. After about thirty seconds or so, he looked over his shoulder to see the human and quarian were still behind him. Right as he turned around, he saw the turian had somehow managed to cut him off, and he ran right into the turian's outstretched arm. The force of the impact knocked Aaron off his feet, and he landed hard on his back. He groaned as he rolled slightly from side to side, knowing his back was going to be sore the next day. The human and quarian quickly caught up.

"Now, if you're done running, I'd still like to talk." Shepard said.

Aaron frowned at him, "I've got nothing to say to some Eclipse mercs or C-Sec."

The three standing above him laughed slightly.

"When's the last time you saw a _quarian_ working for C-Sec or Eclipse?" Tali asked.

Aaron knew she had a good point.

"Like I said before, I'm Commander Shepard. This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema, and Garrus Vakarian." Shepard reiterated.

 _Wait, I've heard those names before. They helped Shepard on his mission two years ago._ Aaron realized.

Shepard offered a hand to him to help him up, and he took it. Aaron studied each person carefully.

"Are you serious? Like, the _same_ Tali'Zorah and Garrus Vakarian that helped Shepard defeat Saren and the geth?" he asked.

"The very same." Garrus answered.

Aaron then turned to Shepard, "Everyone said you were dead."

Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, "More like MIA."

"So… uh… what did you want to talk about?" Aaron asked.

"Have you ever heard of the Collectors?" Shepard questioned.

Aaron nodded, "Yeah, creepy bug-like aliens. No one knows where they're from."

"They've started abducting whole human colonies. What happened on Freedom's Progress was their doing." Shepard stated. "I'm building a team to go after them, recruiting the best the galaxy has to offer. And I want you on my team."

Aaron didn't have to think about his answer for long. He remembered all the fame Shepard and his team had received after defeating Saren two years ago. The news coverage, the adoring fans, all of it. If Aaron was part of the team that defeated the Collectors, saving entire human colonies, he would be just as famous. He could have just as much coverage, just as many fans. Not to mention all the companies that would want him for promotional deals and endorsements. Aaron could make a serious amount of money from this.

"Say no more, Shepard, I'm in. Fair warning, though, the Alliance and I don't get along anymore." Aaron stated.

Shepard chuckled, "Don't worry, this isn't _exactly_ an Alliance mission. I'll explain more when we're aboard the _Normandy_."

 _The Normandy is back, too? Man, this day just keeps getting better and better._ Aaron thought. "One more thing. Can I collect the bounty I was after first?"

Shepard nodded, "Good ahead, just meet us at the _Normandy_ as soon as you're done. Here are the coordinates."

Aaron's omnitool pinged, alerting him that the coordinates had been received. He gave a thumbs up, then was off to collect his paycheck.

"Well that was… _interesting_." Tali noted.

"Yeah, normally we don't have to chase down our recruits. At least he took out all the mercs before we got here." Shepard agreed.

Garrus watched Aaron as he ran off to get Paetal, "So, what do you think of him?"

"Don't know yet, only time will tell." Shepard answered with a shrug.

* * *

 **Author's Note: If, while reading this chapter, you thought to yourself "Aaron's outfit reminds me of the NCR Rangers from _Fallout: New Vegas_ ", then you were correct! When I played that game, I always wanted to get my hands on that armor as quickly as possible. So I decided to give Aaron a similar outfit, minus the helmet. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look up pictures of NCR Rangers. I think you'll agree they look pretty badass!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Evaluations

**Author's Note: There were a couple interesting points raised in a review that I thought I would discuss here. First, _Redeeming the Fallen_ and the _Unbreakable Bond_ trilogy take place in completely separate universes, which is why Aaron never appears or is mentioned in _UB_ or _UB:P_. This is also evident with Ashley being the Virmire Survivor in this story. Second, I never write Zaeed or Kasumi into my stories because I never bought their DLCs. Because the were never present in my ME playthroughs, I feel no need nor do I want to include them. **

* * *

_05/06/2185  
_ _Zakera Ward, The Citadel_

After changing back into his casual outfit, dropping off Paetal at Bailey's C-Sec office, and thoroughly gloating about receiving the full bounty, Aaron made his way to the docking bay at the coordinates Shepard had provided. When he arrived, he was greeted with a spectacular view of the _Normandy_. Aaron set down his backpack and two duffel bags full of gear and leaned against the closest railing, gazing out upon the frigate. He had never gotten a chance to see the original _Normandy_ in person. The SR-2 was a sleek, elegant, and overall beautiful ship. Aaron opened his omnitool, and took a selfie of himself, with the 'Normandy' letters painted on the hull in the background. He looked at the picture, smiling as he thought of how jealous his friends would be that he was going to be onboard.

 _She could do without the Cerberus logo, though_. Aaron thought. _Wait… what the hell is a Cerberus logo doing on the Normandy?_

He remembered seeing the logo in the news, accompanied by stories of how Shepard and his team had shut down the organization's cruel and twisted experiments. Just the year before, Cerberus had been in the news again after attacking the Migrant Fleet. If he recalled correctly, Cerberus was now considered a terrorist organization.

 _Oh shit… am I… a terrorist now?_ Aaron wondered, worry etched on his face. _Hopefully Shepard can clear that up during orientation._

He picked up his luggage and walked up the docking tube to the airlock. To Aaron's surprise, the airlock opened as he approached, EDI having been informed of his arrival by Shepard earlier. He stepped inside, and the airlock shut behind him as the decontamination cycle began. Aaron whistled and rocked back and forth on his feet to pass the time.

"Greetings, Mr. Sorenson, and welcome aboard the _Normandy_ SR-2." a female synthesized voice greeted.

"Glad to be aboard." Aaron replied. _Well, now I've met the VI._

The cycle finished and the door opened, revealing the inside of the _Normandy_ to him. He stepped in, and looking to his left, he saw the cockpit. Inside, the pilot was arguing with a glowing, blue orb. Deciding it was best to leave that situation alone, Aaron walked through the CIC. He saw Shepard talking with a redheaded woman, and headed towards them.

 _And a cute redhead at that._ Aaron observed.

Shepard saw him approaching and greeted him, "Aaron, welcome aboard the _Normandy_. This is Kelly Chambers, the ship's yeoman and psychologist."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sorenson, you can just call me 'Kelly'. I'm looking forward to working together on our mission." Kelly greeted cheerfully, extending her hand.

Aaron flashed his charming smile and shook her hand, "Pleasure's all mine, Kelly. And it's just 'Aaron', 'Mr. Sorenson' sounds _way_ too official."

"Kelly's going to construct a psych profile of you. When she's finished, head to the medbay for your physical evaluation." Shepard stated. "Dr. Chakwas is the _Normandy_ head doctor, she'll be examining you. And after that, you'll meet the rest of the crew."

Aaron nodded, "Sounds good. Hey, before you leave, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Aaron. What's up?" Shepard asked.

Aaron glanced around nervously, "So, I kinda figured out that this is a Cerberus ship, which means that this is a Cerberus mission. Does that make me… like… a terrorist now?"

Shepard chuckled slightly, "Not exactly, this is _my_ ship and _my_ mission. You work for me, consider Cerberus as nothing more than our bankroller."

He could see the tension leave Aaron's body.

"Besides, I'm a Council Spectre. As long as you're with me, you're not a terrorist." he added.

"Good to know, that had me worried for a bit." Aaron admitted.

Shepard smiled, "Glad I could clear that up. Now, if you'll follow Kelly, she can begin your mental evaluation."

Kelly waved for him to follow, "This way, Aaron."

He followed her to her office, and took a seat in a comfy chair. Kelly sat down across from him, and opened up her omnitool. She turned the camera towards him, and began recording.

"So, Aaron, to start, I'd like to learn a little bit about you. Let's start with your childhood, where were you born?" Kelly asked.

"Earth. Idaho, to be specific." Aaron answered. "A small town outside of Boise, maybe 5,000 people, maximum."

"And how was your childhood?" she inquired.

"It was good, lots of good memories. My family lived on a ranch, so I grew up around horses and cows." he replied, smiling. "My dad would wake up at the crack of dawn every weekday, and work until sundown. On the weekends, my dad and I would watch Boise State Broncos football games on Saturday, and go to church on Sunday."

"That sounds wonderful. You mentioned going to church, are you religious?" Kelly questioned.

Aaron shook his head, "Not really… well, kind of. Sure, I think there's a higher power, but… I'm just not sure what it is, exactly."

She nodded, "You talked a little bit about your dad, what about your mom?"

He diverted his gaze from her, "I… I don't want to talk about her."

Kelly instantly dropped the subject, and they then discussed different aspects of his past, specifically his time in middle school and high school. He told her that he was an average student, played various sports, and had plenty of girlfriends. Without realizing it, Aaron was opening up more and more. He found himself enjoying talking to Kelly, and he told her things he rarely ever talked about. The conversation took a turn for the worse, however, when the Alliance was brought up.

"Tell me about your time serving in the Alliance." Kelly asked.

It was as if someone had flipped a switch within him, his mood immediately turned sour.

Aaron frowned, "Not much to tell. They used me, and threw me away when they were done."

"I assume you're talking about your dishonorable discharge after Torfan. Would you mind telling me what happened there?" Kelly requested.

His gaze turned cold, and his frown grew larger. Memories that he had long thought forgotten rose to the surface. Anger swelled inside him.

"This evaluation is over." Aaron stated coldly.

He shot up from the chair, and began walking towards the door.

"Wait, I'm sorry! We don't have to talk about it, we can just move on to other questions." Kelly apologized.

He slowed to a stop, and took in a deep breath and released it. Aaron decided to stay, but for all intents and purposes, the evaluation was over. He sat back down in the chair, and slouched down into it.

"Your dossier doesn't mention anything, but have you ever been diagnosed with a mental illness?" Kelly asked.

"No, never… well never _diagnosed._ Sometime I hear voices in my head, and they tell me to do things." Aaron answered sarcastically. "Wait, I shouldn't have told her that? Never mind, Kelly, I do _not_ hear voices in my head and they do _not_ tell me what to do."

Kelly struggled to remain cheerful and upbeat, despite Aaron obviously not taking the evaluation seriously anymore.

 _Something seriously wrong must've happened on Torfan_. _He almost left when I asked, and now he's put up a wall._ she noted.

Aaron either gave sarcastic or smartass answers for the remaining questions, and promptly left when it was over. Kelly made her way to the CIC in order to deliver the results to Shepard.

"Hey Kelly, how'd it go? Anything I should know about?" he asked.

"It went well at first, but didn't exactly finish the way I expected. He seems to be fine mentally, although there might be a hint of narcissism present." she reported. "Although, you should be aware, something very wrong must've happened when he was at Torfan. I asked him about it, and he almost walked out of the room, afterwards he used sarcasm as a defense mechanism."

"Not surprising, I read about him being at Torfan in his dossier. Some serious shit went down there." he replied. "As long as it doesn't affect his ability to contribute to the mission, I'll leave it alone. Who knows, maybe he'll open up to someone about it sometime down the road?"

* * *

By the time Aaron reached the Crew Deck, he had managed to push the memories of Torfan all the way back down to where they belonged. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised that Kelly asked about it, but that hadn't made him any less pissed off that she did.

 _If anyone wants to know what happened there, they can read the fucking news reports._ Aaron thought.

As he stepped off the elevator, he fully composed himself again, taking another deep breath in and releasing it. Aaron walked over to the medbay, and the doors opened as he approached. Inside, Aaron found a woman wearing a medical uniform, and assumed she was the doctor.

"Are you Dr. Chakwas?" he asked.

The woman turned around to face him, "Last time I checked, yes. You must be Mr. Sorenson."

"Just call me 'Aaron'." he requested.

Chakwas nodded, "Of course, Aaron. Now, please strip down to your skivvies and I'll begin the exam."

As Aaron undressed, she darkened the medbay windows so no one could see inside. He took off his jacket and shirt, revealing a strong chest and biceps, in addition to toned abs. Once he was done, Chakwas waved her omnitool over his entire body, scanning for any irregularities. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she logged her findings in the _Normandy's_ database.

"Everything on the inside looks fine, Aaron. No diseases, tumors, or anything of the sort." Chakwas stated.

She then motioned for him to stand on the scale. After a few seconds, the scale displayed that he weighed 213 lbs.

"You've gained a little weight since your last official weigh-in, though it appears to be all muscle. Your last official record was almost seven years ago, any reason for that?" Chakwas asked.

Aaron smirked, "Not a big fan of doctors' offices, no offense."

"None taken." she responded.

Chakwas then measured his height, and recorded that he was 6' 1".

"Well, you haven't grown at all since your last physical exam. Your dossier says you were 19 at the time, most people are done growing by that age." she noted. "Okay, you may put your clothes back on now."

Aaron began putting on his pants, "What, no 'turn and cough' today?"

Chakwas decided to ignore that remark. After he had put his clothes on, she had him sit on one of the exam tables. Chakwas shined a light into both his eyes, into his ears, up his nose, and into his mouth.

"Alright, everything looks good, Aaron. You have an impressive physique along with a clean bill of health." Chakwas informed. "I just want to ask a few medical-related questions before we finish. Barring any unusual answers, you'll be cleared to assume your duties immediately."

Aaron nodded, "Sounds good, Doc."

Chakwas took a seat and opened her omnitool.

"Do you have any allergies?" she asked.

He shook his head, "None."

"Do you smoke or drink heavily?" Chakwas questioned.

"I used to smoke for about five years, quit about two years ago. And I only drink a few times a week." Aaron answered.

"Your lungs show no sign of damage, so the effects of your smoking seem to have cleared up. And I can tell by the state your liver is in that you don't have a drinking problem." Chakwas stated. "Have you ever contracted a sexually-transmitted disease?"

His eyes widened and his body immediately stiffened. He ran a hand through his thick hair before looking away.

" _Aaron?_ " she asked.

Aaron looked everywhere but at Dr. Chakwas.

"Uh… well… a few years ago… a human woman on Omega gave me… gonorrhea. She had said she was clean, so I didn't feel the need to wear a… you know..." he answered. "Anyway, I got treated right away, and it hasn't been a problem since. I _swear_ , I'm clean now."

"Oh, well, my scan didn't pick up any diseases. And that _surely_ would've been detected." Chakwas replied. "As your doctor, I must advise that in the future you and your partner always use protection during sexual intercourse. Also, it wouldn't hurt to get yourself and your partner tested for STDs beforehand."

Aaron couldn't remember the last time he felt this awkward, "Uh… thanks. Believe me, I won't _ever_ make that mistake again."

The rest of the questions revealed nothing interesting. Feeling thoroughly embarrassed after telling someone he just met about his worst encounter with a woman, Aaron left the medbay when the evaluation was over. Chakwas had cleared him for duty, and told him to report to Shepard. He boarded the elevator to the CIC, and found Shepard at his private terminal.

"Hey, Shepard, Chakwas cleared me for duty." Aaron reported.

Shepard turned towards him, "That's good to hear. Do the voices in your head have anything to say?"

Aaron started to laugh, but the neutral expression on Shepard's face showed that he hadn't meant it as a joke.

"Oh, _come on_ , Shep! You gotta admit, that was pretty clever." Aaron protested.

Shepard shook his head, "Just don't do it again, Aaron. Kelly needs an accurate psych profile so she can compare it to your mental state after missions."

Aaron relented, "Alright, alright, I'll take things more seriously."

"Good. Look, I'm all for having fun and joking around during down time. Hell, Garrus and I take shots at each other all the time." Shepard stated. "Just don't let it affect anything mission-related. Our objective is too important for any unnecessary setbacks."

"Understood." Aaron replied.

"Great, now follow me to the conference room. Time for you to meet the rest of the ground team, they're already gathered in there." Shepard informed, motioning for Aaron to follow.

When the duo entered the conference room, most people were having their own conversations. As he walked in, the first person Aaron noticed was Miranda. His gaze immediately drifted down to her 'assets', which her skin-tight bodysuit did an amazing job of emphasizing.

 _Damn, I think I'm gonna like working with her!_ Aaron thought.

He quickly took his eyes off her chest before anyone noticed, but he then saw the Cerberus logo on her uniform.

 _Scratch that, probably not gonna like working with her._ Aaron corrected.

"Can I have everyone's attention?" Shepard called out.

Everyone immediately gave him their full attention, except Jack, who continued to stare off into space.

"Garrus, Tali, and I picked up a new recruit today. I'm going to let him introduce himself." Shepard continued.

Aaron took a step forward, raising his hand up to give a small wave.

"Hey, everyone, I'm Aaron Sorenson." he greeted, smiling.

There were a few moments of silence, with everyone waiting for him to continue introducing himself. That never came.

"And?" Jack asked, annoyed.

"Goddammit, _again?_ Does _no one_ read the news anymore?" Aaron asked in disbelief, running his hands through his hair. " _No one_ here has ever heard of me? Okay… fine, I'm considered to be the best bounty hunter in Council space."

Shepard, standing behind Aaron, chuckled silently and shook his head slightly.

He stepped up next to Aaron, "Alright, Aaron, you've already met Garrus and Tali. Everyone else, introduce yourselves."

Starting with Miranda, who was closest to Shepard, everyone around the table stated their name and duties. Aaron got a good first impression from Mordin, who, despite appearing quite eccentric, seemed like a good guy. Jack just seemed irritated just being there, Miranda gave off the impression of an ice queen, Grunt scared him, and Jacob glared at him the entire time.

 _Well isn't this just great_. _The weird salarian scientist is the nicest one on the team, next to Garrus and Tali._ Aaron observed.

After the introductions, Shepard made an announcement that they were heading to Illium to finish recruiting. He then dismissed everyone. Jack and Grunt hurried past Aaron out of the conference room, while Miranda just brushed past him. Garrus and Tali both gave him a friendly nod before exiting.

Mordin came over to talk, "Glad to have you on team, Aaron. Stop by lab sometime, will outfit you with seeker swarm countermeasure."

Before Aaron could ask what he meant, Mordin was gone. He looked over at Shepard, confusion all over his face.

"Mordin's a little… odd. Don't worry, he does that to everyone." Shepard stated, chuckling. "And seeker swarms are little bugs the Collectors use to paralyze their targets. I've seen what they do first-hand, trust me, you'll want Mordin's countermeasure."

"I'll stop by after I get settled in." Aaron replied.

Shepard noticed that Jacob was still in the conference room.

"Jacob, did you need something?" he asked.

Jacob said nothing, instead just continued to glare at Aaron.

He spoke after a few moments, "So, a bounty hunter, huh? What, you only care about justice when there's a paycheck in it for you?"

"Am I seriously getting lectured on morals by a fucking _Cerberus_ operative? Wow, isn't that _something?_ " Aaron replied, laughing. "Hey Shepard, why don't you bring Tali back in here? I'm sure she would have something to say about the morals of Cerberus. Tell me, Jacob, how many quarians died on the _Idenna?_ "

Jacob started moving toward Aaron, "Hey, I had _nothing_ to do with that! I'll be the first to admit, what Cerberus did to the Migrant Fleet was wrong."

Aaron didn't back down, and instead started moving towards Jacob. The two ended up face to face, separated by only a few inches, each giving the other a death stare.

"Obviously you don't think it was _that_ bad, considering you're still proudly wearing the goddamn Cerberus logo on your chest. Now how about you back the fuck up, _asshole_." Aaron threatened.

Shepard quickly got in between the two, separating them.

"That's enough, _both_ of you! Whether you like it or not, you're teammates now, grow up and act like it!" he chastised. "Jacob, I don't know what your problem is, but you better _not_ start shit like this ever again. And Aaron, Jacob wasn't part of the attack on the Migrant Fleet, he doesn't have to answer for everything Cerberus does."

Jacob promptly followed Shepard's order, quickly taking a few steps back. Aaron raised his hands a little in surrender, muttering obscenities about Jacob under his breath and slowly walked away.

"Sorry, Commander, won't happen again." Jacob said, saluting Shepard.

He immediately headed back to the armory after without saying anything to Aaron.

"The fuck was that about?" Aaron asked.

Shepard shook his head.

"Not sure, but I'm going to talk about it with him later. He apparently has some issue with bounty hunters." he answered. "Now, about your housing situation. Unfortunately, all the cots in the crew quarters are taken, but I'm sure we can find somewhere for you."

"Shepard, the starboard cargo area is currently unoccupied." EDI stated.

"Does that work for you?" Shepard asked Aaron.

He nodded, "Should be fine. That's a pretty nice VI you got there."

"I am actually an artificial intelligence, Mr. Sorenson. My name is EDI, the abbreviation for Enhanced Defense Intelligence." EDI corrected.

 _Again with the 'Mr. Sorenson'?_ Aaron thought. "That's actually pretty cool. And just 'Aaron' is fine, EDI."

"No issues with having an AI onboard?" Shepard questioned.

Aaron shrugged, "Should I have any? It's not like it's going to kill us or anything."

"Certainly not when you're expecting it." EDI replied.

Shepard and Aaron's eyes immediately went wide, and stared at EDI for a few seconds.

"That was a joke." EDI clarified.

Aaron started laughing, "It's even got jokes! That's awesome!"

"I'm glad you appreciate my attempts at humor, Aaron. Most other crew members find it slightly off-putting." EDI thanked.

Shepard swore he could detect a sense of pride in EDI's tone.

"Wait a sec, you mean to tell me that the krogan, the psycho chick, the Cerberus ice queen, and Jacob, A.K.A. Mr. Pole Up His Ass, don't have a sense of humor? Huh, I never would've guessed." Aaron replied sarcastically.

Shepard grinned slightly, "Alright EDI, let's let Aaron get settled in. You two can crack jokes afterwards."

"Of course, Shepard. Aaron, if you need directions to the starboard cargo area, I'd be happy to assist." EDI responded before disappearing.

Following the instructions given to him by Shepard, Aaron boarded the elevator and took it down to the Engineering Deck. He got off and walked into the port cargo area. When Aaron walked in, the first things he saw were the two viewports that let him look out into space. The glass was incredibly thick, so he didn't have to worry about any breaches. There was a cot set up underneath the windows, which Aaron laid his two duffel bags and backpack on. The were a couple crates lying around, but other than them, the room was empty. In the back, he spied a piece of unfamiliar machinery with two buttons. Aaron walked over and examined it. He pushed the first button, and to his relief, no alarms sounded. Instead, a tightly compacted cube of garbage dropped out of the machine. Aaron's curiosity was in full force, and he pushed the other button. The nearby airlock opened, creating a vacuum which ejected the garbage into space. He rushed to the viewport and could see the cube hurtling through the void.

 _Ha, I'm going to have some fun with this_. Aaron thought, not caring about his childish excitement over something so simple.

Just then, his omnitool beeped. Shepard had sent him a message, letting him know the ground team combat exercise was scheduled for tomorrow morning at 08:00. He checked the time, and saw that it was 18:23. Despite it not being that late, Aaron let out a yawn. It had been a long day, after all. First was his incarceration at the hands of C-Sec. Then, he took out a whole Eclipse team by himself, securing Paetal in the process. And now, he had just finished being evaluated and introduced to the crew. An idea popped into his head after thinking about Paetal. He opened his omnitool again, and about a minute later, every omnitool on the _Normandy_ beeped. Aaron had sent everyone onboard the link to the news story about him in The Citadel Times. He then stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers, and laid down in his cot. The Boise State Broncos football game would be starting soon, so Aaron decided to watch that before going to bed. The team normally played on Saturday, but the game got moved to a primetime Friday night time slot this week, since they were playing in-state rival Idaho. Unbeknownst to him, his dad was also watching the game, father and son still continuing their tradition even though they weren't together.

Aaron smiled as he remembered all the times his dad and him would sit in front of their vidscreen, each wearing a Boise State jersey of their favorite player, cheering and high-fiving whenever a touchdown or field goal was scored. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the ¼ size replica Broncos football helmet his dad had given him as a gift years ago, and placed it on the edge of the viewport. Aaron brought up the game on his omnitool, and cheers could be heard coming from the starboard cargo area every time Boise State scored. After the game was over, in which the Broncos beat the Idaho Vandals convincingly, he typed up a message to his dad.

 _To: Dad  
_ _From: Aaron_

 _Hell of a game, huh? The Broncos look good this year, national championship, maybe?_

 _-Aaron_

A few minutes later, Aaron received a response.

 _To: Aaron  
_ _From: Dad_

 _It might be a little early for a prediction like that, but we sure showed everyone who the best team in Idaho is! Go Orange and Blue!_

 _-Dad_

* * *

 **Author's Note: Two quick things. Boise State football will be brought up more times during the story. Anytime I write 'Broncos' in the future, I'm referring to the college football team, not the NFL team the Denver Broncos. Second, I know written physical descriptions can be a little vague, so I thought I'd tell you all the inspiration for Aaron's appearance. I modeled him after the Luca Vincenzo Cocchiola, the Italian playable character in the campaign of _Battlefield 1_. If you want to see a picture of what I created Aaron to look like, google '** **Luca Vincenzo Cocchiola' to see some pictures of that character. The picture on his Battlefield Wiki page is the best, in my opinion.**


	4. Chapter 4: The First Day

**Author's Note: Apparently there was some confusion about who's in a relationship with who in _Redeeming the Fallen_. To clarify, Shepard and Tali are together in this story. However, they won't be the only human-quarian relationship, as Tali soon won't be the only quarian on the _Normandy_. Also, since Aaron is the focus of this story, his relationship with a certain woman will take precedence over Shepard and Tali's relationship. For a Shepard and Tali centered story, I recommend my _Unbreakable Bond_ series.**

* * *

 _05/07/2185  
_ _The Normandy_

Shepard was growing impatient. It was 07:58, and he was standing in the _Normandy's_ combat simulator, located behind the conference room on the CIC Deck. All of the ground crew was assembled, save for one person. Aaron was not present. Even Jack had managed to sleepily stride in a few minutes prior. Shepard held combat exercises every other day, just to keep the ground team's skills sharp. The absolute last thing he wanted, especially on a mission with this importance, was his ground team getting soft. The mission was dangerous enough as is, the team needed to be at their best if they were going to have any chance of surviving. Despite all this, Aaron was missing.

"Did anyone see Aaron on their way here?" he asked, hoping to hear that he was just running late.

Seven people shook their heads, none having seen him. Shepard checked the time on his omnitool again, and saw it was 8:00.

"EDI, where's Aaron?" he inquired, his patience gone.

"Aaron is in the starboard cargo area. Based upon my readings, it appears he is still asleep." EDI answered.

 _Goddammit…_ Shepard thought. "Hold tight, everyone. I'll be right back."

He jogged out of the combat simulator to the elevator, and mashed the Engineering Deck button repeatedly. When the elevator arrived on the floor below, Shepard quickly walked to the starboard cargo area. Finding the door locked, he ordered EDI to open it. Inside, Shepard saw Aaron, dressed in only his boxers and wearing his dogtags as a necklace. He was sprawled out on his back in his cot, asleep. Some spittle was present on the side of his mouth, and Aaron was snoring softly.

 _Must be a heavy sleeper. Still, there's no excuse for missing the exercise._ Shepard thought.

As he strode over to Aaron, he noticed a sentence tattooed on his left pectoral, which was in a foreign language. Though Shepard wasn't positive, it appeared to be Italian or Spanish. He could ask him about it later, but now, he was still pissed at him being late for the exercise. Shepard didn't tolerate lateness or tardiness at all. He would make this exercise as hard for Aaron as possible. Shepard grabbed the metal frame of the cot with both hands, and flipped it upside down. Aaron fell out of his cot, and hit the floor with a thud. He startled awake, and flung his arms around wildly, fighting off an enemy that wasn't there. After Aaron had determined he wasn't in danger, and the fogginess of a deep sleep had left his head, he noticed that Shepard was standing above him.

"Jesus, what the fuck, Shep? This better not be some _goddamn_ initiation ritual!" he yelled, rubbing his groggy eyes.

Shepard glared down at him, "This isn't a hazing, look at the time."

Aaron checked his omnitool, and saw that it was 08:03.

 _Shit!_ he thought.

"You're late for combat exercise. Now get your ass to the combat simulator, move!" Shepard ordered.

Aaron pushed himself to his feet, and quickly began putting on a pair of black jeans. As he scrambled up, Shepard noticed another tattoo on Aaron's right bicep. It was a large, filled in black square, about four inches long on each side. Shepard thought that was an odd tattoo choice, unless it was covering something up.

"Okay okay, just let me get ready and I'll meet you there." Aaron said.

Shepard knew that Aaron was a former Alliance Marine, that he had at one point gone through basic training. Alliance drill instructors were tough, mean, nasty sons of bitches, especially those in the Marines. They instilled a serious sense of discipline in each recruit, one that stuck with them for life. He believed that same sense of discipline could be awakened inside of Aaron, if he could just awaken it.

"Aaron, what the _fuck_ are you doing? Did I say _anything_ about getting dressed?" Shepard yelled furiously, channeling his inner drill instructor. "I said to get your lazy ass to the _combat simulator_! Did I fucking stutter, _Aaron?_ "

Shepard's tactic worked, Aaron dropped his pants and stood up, rigid as a poll. He ran out of the starboard cargo area and into the elevator, pushing the button for the CIC Deck. Shepard, still standing in the cargo area, smiled and chuckled softly before following after Aaron. Aaron stepped out of the elevator in the CIC, and immediately all eyes fell upon him. He smiled meekly as he stood there, dressed only in his boxers and dogtags. He quickly hurried to the hallway that led to the conference room and the combat simulator, winking at a few of the more attractive female crew members he passed. Most just frowned or rolled their eyes at him, except for one brunette, who smiled and winked back. Aaron made a mental note to talk to her later. He paused at the door to the combat simulator, trying to think of an excuse for why he was wearing only his boxers and dogtags. His first impression with the ground team yesterday hadn't gone so well, and his current state of dress probably wouldn't change anyone's impression. As he ran through excuses in his head, Aaron didn't hear the door open behind him. Shepard came up behind him, forcefully grabbed his arm, and opened the door to the combat simulator. He pulled Aaron inside, and shoved him over to where the rest of the crew was standing.

Every single eye in the room fell upon him. Aaron again smiled meekly, and lazily waved to everyone.

"Morning, everyone." he greeted.

Tali raised a hand to her visor, covering her eyes, while Garrus smirked. Jack had a horny look in her eyes, hungrily taking in the sight of his strong biceps, toned chest, and defined abs. Grunt and Mordin didn't seem to react much. Miranda raised an eyebrow, and Jacob smiled sinisterly, chuckling softly.

"Jacob, is something funny?" Shepard asked in a harsh tone.

Jacob immediately wiped the smile from his face, turning to face Shepard.

"Not at all, Commander." he answered.

Shepard nodded, "Good. Sorry for the delay everyone, but apparently someone needed his or her beauty sleep."

Everyone knew who Shepard was referring to, and again, all eyes fell upon Aaron. Instead of meeting everyone's gaze, he decided a light fixture on the ceiling was much more worthy of his attention.

"Aaron, why the hell are you dressed like that?" Shepard asked rhetorically.

Aaron's eyes widened, "Because you said I…"

"Is that an _excuse_ I just heard? Drop and give me 40 pushups, and count off!" Shepard ordered.

Aaron balked, "Are you serious?"

"Oh, forgive my mistake. I meant 60 pushups, _now!_ " Shepard corrected.

Aaron immediately dropped to the floor and began quickly doing pushups, counting off each one for everyone to hear. The task wasn't very strenuous on his body, as he kept himself in great, lean shape, though Shepard had him beat in terms of muscle mass.

"So I see everyone picked up a weapon from the Armory. I know I say this everytime, but make sure it's unloaded and the safety on, or I swear to God you'll be cleaning toilets for the next month." Shepard stated. "Alright, you all know the drill, step into the virtual reality pods. If no one gets wounded or killed, I'll be tagging people as casualties this time around to mix things up, so make sure to adjust accordingly to the situation."

As everyone began moving to a pod, Aaron began heading to the Armory to get his assault rifle.

"Where are you going, Aaron?" Shepard called out to him.

Aaron turned around, "I have to get my weapon."

"No time, here, I'll give you one." Shepard offered.

A puzzled look crossed Aaron's face, he didn't see any other weapons in the room. Shepard made a finger gun with his index finger and thumb, and pretended to toss it to Aaron.

 _You have got to be fucking kidding me._ Aaron thought.

"Just a heads up, it doesn't fire unless you make a 'pew' sound." Shepard added, not once breaking his poker face.

"Uh… roger that." Aaron replied, looking down at the finger gun he was making.

Those of the ground team who overheard the exchange struggled to not burst out laughing.

Aaron joined the rest of the team in a pod, armed with his finger gun and protected only by his boxers and dogtags. For this exercise, Garrus would be leading the team. Shepard loaded up a random combat scenario, and the simulator scanned each member's weapons, shields, combat armor, tech powers, and biotic powers into the simulation. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work with boxers, dogtags, and finger guns. Aaron's pod closed, and he was instantly transported to a virtual battlefield. As the setting began to form around the team, Shepard began watching the numerous vidscreens that broadcasted the battle. The simulator had chosen geth as the enemy, with the team having to defend a certain area while civilians were being extracted. Bullets started flying immediately, and everyone took cover. Garrus began shouting out orders and coordinating the defense. Aaron wasn't exactly sure what to do, so he just peered out from cover and began mimicking firing a real pistol, even adding recoil.

"Aaron, why aren't you firing your weapon?" Shepard yelled over the built-in loudspeaker.

Aaron rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Pew, pew, pew!" he yelled as he continued mock-firing.

Shepard had to turn off the loudspeaker to prevent anyone from hearing him break down into a laughing fit.

Needless to say, Aaron wasn't helping the team out very much. He just sat down behind cover, occasionally poking his head out to fire his finger gun. In order to make things interesting, Shepard opened a private comms channel with Garrus, giving him instructions.

"Tali, Aaron, I need you to flank the geth! It'll split their fire, taking some pressure off of us here!" Garrus ordered.

Tali nodded and waved Aaron over. As soon as Aaron moved from cover, a bullet caught him in the right thigh. With no shield to deflect the round, and no combat armor to absorb the hit, the mass-accelerated bullet cut right through him at full speed. The force of the impact tore his leg off about halfway up his thigh. Aaron instantly fell to the ground. He obviously felt no pain, since it was just a simulation, but his eyes still widened as he saw his leg lying on the ground, with blood pouring out of his thigh.

 _Damn, this is super realistic._ he thought.

Tali immediately tended to his wounds with medi-gel, and pulled him back into cover, though she struggled quite a bit with the much heavier human.

"Um… thanks, Tali." Aaron thanked.

She ignored his thanks, "Next time, _don't_ sleep in, you stupid _bosh'tet_."

For the rest of this round, Aaron just blindly fired his finger gun at the geth. The mission was ultimately successful, with the team being able to hold off the geth long enough for the civilians to be extracted.

"Nice work everyone, especially you, Garrus. Way to adapt to the situation and complete the mission." Shepard complimented. "Alright, get ready for the next mission. Miranda, you're in charge this time."

Shepard loaded up another simulation, but the outcome for Aaron was the same. In fact, the outcome was the same for every other simulation they did. He would just fire his finger gun until he ultimately got horribly wounded. His personal favorite exercise was the one where half his face got blown off, leaving him with only one eye. Without his assault rifle, shields, armor, grenades, or boosters, Aaron was useless. The other ground team members were initially amused with his uselessness, but after more exercises they became increasingly annoyed. He was the only one getting wounded, the only one not contributing. They hoped that Aaron had learned his lesson, and would be on time for future exercises.

* * *

After four hours of training, Shepard finally released the ground team. Aaron hurriedly made his way back to the starboard cargo area, and put on his black jeans, a plain gray V-neck t-shirt, and his brown leather combat boots. He had missed breakfast, and was absolutely starving. Luckily for him, it was lunchtime. Aaron took the elevator to the Crew Deck, and walked over to the serving area, picking up a tray as he walked. Behind the counter, was a middle aged Cerberus operative.

The man introduced himself as Aaron approached, "Ah, you must be the new ground team recruit! Nice to meet you, I'm Rupert Gardner, the _Normandy's_ cook, custodian, and all-around handyman."

Aaron smiled, "I'm Aaron Sorenson, bounty hunter extraordinaire. Nice to meet you too, Rupert."

"A bounty hunter, bet you have some good stories. You'll have to share them with me sometime." Rupert commented. "Unfortunately, I'm on duty right now, so they'll have to wait. What can I get for ya?"

Aaron beamed at the prospect of sharing the stories of some of his more adventurous hunts with someone. That would have to wait, however, as he was currently holding up the serving line. Aaron looked down at the pots and pans on the counter; potato soup, a mix of steamed vegetables, and bread rolls were on the menu.

"I'll take some of everything you got." he requested.

"Sure thing." Rupert answered, serving him his food.

After grabbing a bottle of water, Aaron looked for a place to sit. He noticed a few tables full of Cerberus crewmen, including Jacob. Grunt was sitting alone at a table, sloppily scarfing down his meal. Jack was also sitting alone, and she was eyeing him up.

 _Not gonna happen._ Aaron thought.

Tali and Garrus sat at another table, along with two Cerberus crewmen, a redheaded man and a brunette woman.

 _Odd, I didn't think the Cerberus crew would mingle with the aliens_. he mused.

Aaron would've sat with them, considering Tali and Garrus were the closest he had to friends on the _Normandy_ , but the table was full. He sighed, and sat down at one of the empty tables.

 _Great, just like middle school_. Aaron remembered.

He pushed aside the memories of an acne-ridden, scrawny kid with braces having to eat alone in the school cafeteria because no one else would allow him to sit with them. History apparently was repeating itself, except Aaron's acne had cleared up about 12 years ago and his braces had been taken off around the same time. No one would describe him as scrawny anymore, either. To improve his mood, he instead thought back to his much more enjoyable high school days, when puberty had treated him very, very kindly.

After hungrily eating a few spoonfuls of soup, Aaron noticed someone standing in front of him on the opposite side of the table. Spoon still in hand, Aaron glanced up to see that it was Shepard.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked, a genuine smile on his face.

Aaron initially thought of telling Shepard to go fuck himself, considering how embarrassed he'd been that morning. That thought passed quickly, and Aaron wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"You're the captain, pretty sure you can sit wherever you want." he responded snarkily.

Shepard brushed off Aaron's tone and sat down across from him.

"So, this morning was pretty rough, huh?" Shepard asked rhetorically.

"Believe me, I'll take any chance I can get to be shirtless in front of women. But having to walk through the _Normandy_ in my boxers was not what I had in mind." Aaron replied. "We should also discuss how you wake up your crew. I suggest a little less strength and a little more subtlety."

Shepard chuckled softly, remembering flipping Aaron's cot over this morning. Despite how pissed off Aaron was, he knew that he was technically in the wrong. He had been late to the combat exercise, and though he hated to admit it, Shepard did have every right to treat him how he did.

"I'll admit, I did take a little enjoyment from making you wear only your boxers. And I took _a lot_ of enjoyment from watching you fight in them, armed with only a finger gun and making 'pew' noises." Shepard admitted.

Despite his best attempts to appear mad, Aaron couldn't help but laugh at the memory. Honestly, he did look pretty ridiculous.

"Yeah, well, you can believe me when I say that I'll make it to the next exercise on time. Fully clothed, as well." Aaron promised.

Shepard nodded, "I'd appreciate that. Although, I actually might've done you a favor by making you wear only your boxers."

"How so?" Aaron asked.

"Kelly came up to me after the exercise to ask what my policy regarding fraternization between crewmembers was. Apparently one women had asked for clarification this morning." Shepard answered with a wink.

 _Probably the same one who smiled at me this morning. Now I really have to go talk to her._ Aaron thought. "Good to know, Shep. Thanks for the heads up."

The two men then turned their attentions to their meals for a minute or so. Shepard was the first to break the silence.

"I gotta ask, what are the stories behind the tattoos? I saw the sentence on your chest, it looked like Italian or Spanish." Shepard inquired. "And then the square on your arm. What's the meaning behind that?"

Aaron looked away, debating whether or not he should tell Shepard.

 _No. Not yet, at least._ he decided. "Sorry Shep, they're… personal. I will tell you that the sentence is Italian, and the square wasn't there originally."

 _So it's covering something up_. Shepard figured out. "Fair enough."

The two men finished their meals, talking every so often about this and that. Despite his initial troubles, Aaron's lunch turned out better than he had thought.

* * *

Ken Donnelly, Gabby Daniels, and Tali were all hard at work down in Engineering a few hours later. It took constant maintenance to keep the _Normandy_ running at optimal capacity. The three continually monitored their boards, making small adjustments here and there to compensate for any fluctuations. Despite having to be ever alert, the three genuinely enjoyed their jobs, along with each other's company. Sure, Ken could annoy both Gabby and Tali at times, but he was generally a good guy. All three enjoyed the little chats they would have together, minus the parts where Ken would say something a little crude. Ken and Gabby were having one such conversation now.

"Gabby, you'd say the _Normandy_ is a she, not a he, right?" Ken asked.

Gabby turned to him, "Of course, the _Normandy_ is the sweetest girl there is."

Before Ken could continue, he heard a banging noise come from one of the maintenance shafts.

"Shit!" someone faintly whispered.

"Did you hear that?" Ken asked.

Gabby looked confused, "Hear what?"

"Nothing, never mind. As I was saying, EDI's a she." Ken continued.

He glanced over to Tali, who was staring intently at her board.

Ken leaned close to whisper, "Tali's _definitely_ a she."

Gabby rolled her eyes, "Ugh, what are you getting at Kenneth?"

Again, Ken was interrupted by a banging noise coming from the same maintenance shaft.

"Fuck!" somebody whispered, a bit louder this time.

They sounded closer than before.

"There it is again." Ken observed.

"What are you talking about?" Gabby questioned.

He pointed at the maintenance shaft, "I heard a banging noise coming from in that shaft, I think someone's in there."

"I didn't hear anything, but feel free to crawl around in there to check." she replied.

"Forget it, I'm probably just hearing things. I didn't sleep so well last night." Ken stated. "Anyway, I'm just saying I'm feeling a wee bit threatened here. A lot of female energy, and I'm just one man."

Gabby sighed, "You're such a dick."

For the third time, Ken heard a banging noise.

" _Goddammit!_ " the voice whispered, so loud now it could barely be called a whisper.

Gabby didn't react at all, so Ken shook it off.

"See, look where your mind went! I've got to watch out for myself." he joked.

Soft laughter could be heard coming from the maintenance shaft. This time Gabby heard it too. She looked at Ken, then both looked down at the floor to where the entrance was. Another bang, this one louder than the rest.

" _Fuck this shit!_ " the voice yelled.

It was so loud that even Tali heard it. All three rushed over to the shaft, and peered inside warily. It was too dark to see anything, so Tali opened her omnitool to illuminate the entrance.

"Who's there?" Gabby called out.

A few seconds later, someone's head came into view. The person strained to look up at them, and smiled. The person's face was covered in grease, so none of the three recognized who it was.

"Hey, guys." Aaron greeted.

Tali recognized his voice, "Aaron? _Keelah,_ what in the name of the Ancestors are you doing in there?"

Aaron struggled to crawl forward, the shaft had obviously been designed for someone shorter than 6'1". He finally freed himself, and crawled up out of the shaft. Aaron was covered from head to toe in grease, all his clothes probably ruined.

"So this is where the tunnel leads. Huh, never been in here." he observed, looking around Engineering. "I didn't really have the desire to come in here, engineering's not really my thing. I guess it's good we have you three, right?"

All the engineers were too dumbstruck to respond. To Ken and Gabby, someone they had never seen before just crawled out of one of the maintenance shafts, covered in grease. Tali felt the same way, except she had seen the _bosh'tet_ new recruit a few hours before, wearing nothing but his boxers to be specific.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Aaron Sorenson. I'm the new recruit, best bounty hunter in Citadel space." Aaron introduced.

He smiled charmingly and held out his hand to Gabby, who shook it reluctantly.

 _She's cute._ Aaron thought, winking at her.

Tali was still dumbstruck, "Aaron, what the hell were you doing in there?"

" _Relax_ , Tali, I'll explain. So, I was sitting in my room, the starboard cargo area, bored out of my mind." Aaron recounted. "I started looking around, and found the other end of the tunnel over by the garbage compactor. I wanted to see where it led, so I crawled inside."

" _Keelah…_ " Tali said disbelievingly, rubbing where her temples would be with her hands. _He's like a child._

"By the way, whoever designed that tunnel fucked up big time. I'm 6'1", and I could barely fit." Aaron stated. "Plus, _goddamn_ , go easy on the grease, guys. These clothes are ruined now."

Aaron took off his grease-covered t-shirt, crumpling it up in his hands. Gabby raised an eyebrow, impressed by his physique.

"They're _maintenance shafts_ , not tunnels, Aaron." Tali corrected.

Aaron rolled his eyes, "Whatever. That's why you're in charge of Engineering."

He started back to the starboard cargo area, but stopped before he reached the door.

Aaron turned back around, and pointed towards Ken and Gabby, "I didn't catch your names, by the way."

"I'm Engineer Gabriella Daniels." Gabby replied.

Ken spoke next, "And I'm Engin…"

"You should stop by my room sometime, Gabriella. I'm just around the corner." Aaron interrupted, winking at her again.

Before anyone could react, he was already out the door.

"What the hell just happened?" Ken asked.

"Ancestors… he's as immature as he is arrogant and stupid." Tali commented.

"Glad to have him as a neighbor." Gabby added sarcastically. _Not gonna lie, he is cute, though… I mean just look at his body…_


	5. Chapter 5: The First Mission

**Author Note: Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in releasing this chapter. College has been particularly busy lately, and I have very little time for writing. I'm going to try to adopt a schedule of releasing a new chapter for both _Redeeming the Fallen_ and _Unbreakable Bond: Promises_ once a calendar week. Anyway, here's the new chapter, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _5/10/2185  
_ _Nos Astra, Illium_

Aaron stood near the viewport in the starboard cargo area, his hands placed on the glass. He gazed upon the city of Nos Astra for the first time, and was amazed at the beauty. Though he was no stranger to hunting in the Terminus Systems, his jobs had never brought him to Illium. Criminals on Illium were smart, or at least smarter than most other criminals. The illicit activity that happened there was clean, and didn't attract much attention. If their weren't dead bodies involved, most criminal justice agencies wouldn't care that much. White-collar crimes such as embezzlement, stock fraud, insider trading, and money laundering rarely attracted bounties. Besides, the people who committed those crimes could afford to pay off anyone snooping too closely, more often than not. Besides the fact that it wasn't exactly a hub for bounty-worthy criminals, Aaron simply couldn't afford to visit Illium. It was one of the richest planets in the Terminus Systems, and catered only to the upper echelon of galactic society. However, as fate would have it, Aaron was now part of a mission that was being funded by an organization with one of the largest net worths in the galaxy. And that mission required him to go to Nos Astra.

Needless to say, Aaron was very excited. For him, it was almost like a fantasy of his becoming a reality.

 _An entire planet full of asari, what could be better?_ he thought.

Once the missions here were complete, and if time permitted, Aaron was planning on going hunting. Not for a bounty, but to see if he could convince some beautiful asari to accompany him back to his quarters. Aaron felt the _Normandy_ begin to dock, and finished putting on his combat armor. Shepard was hoping to recruit a drell assassin named Thane Krios, whose last known location was Nos Astra. Aaron opened up his crates full of explosives, courtesy of Cerberus, and placed numerous flashbangs, smoke grenades, and some high-explosive impact grenades he had never used before in the numerous pouches of his combat armor. If there was any perk to working with Cerberus, it was they sure didn't mess around when it came to weapons and equipment. He grabbed his duster off his cot on the way out of the cargo area, putting it on as he made his way to the elevator. A scruffy-looking human would attract enough attention in this city without brandishing enough grenades to take out a couple squads of mercenaries.

As Aaron stepped into the elevator, he heard the doors to Engineering slide open. He held the elevator doors open until Tali stepped inside.

"Thanks." she said, giving Aaron a slight nod.

"No problem." Aaron replied, grinning slightly.

After a disastrous first day, he had slowly begun to gain some respect from the other members of the ground team. There had been two combat exercises since then, and Aaron had been on-time for both. The simulations were a lot easier when he was properly equipped, and could actually fight back against the enemy effectively. His rocket boosters and frequent grenade use had added a dynamic to the team's fighting style, and that made them even more dangerous. Tali and Garrus were slightly impressed, with Grunt and Mordin taking note as well. Miranda still was cold towards him, Jack still made him feel uncomfortable, and Jacob was still an asshole. At least Aaron was making some progress with half the team. He hoped that after being able to put his skills on display during an actual mission, he would make even more progress. The simulations had prepared him, now it was time for the real thing.

As the elevator took them to the CIC, Aaron couldn't help but let his eyes wander to Tali. He had always found quarian women attractive, with their thin waists and hips to die for. The skin-tight environmental suits they all wore accentuated every curve of their bodies, and Aaron never took that for granted. Despite not knowing what they actually looked like under their suits, he did know a few things about quarian women. They were a mammalian species, the only other in the galaxy besides humans. A quarian girl on her pilgrimage that he had had a one night stand with a few months back had assured him that humans and quarians looked very similar, and he believed her. Aaron shuddered as he remembered back to that night. She had been a sweet girl, but once things had gotten heated, it had only resulted in some uncomfortable rubber-to-skin contact and an underwhelming use of Nerve-Stim Pro, for him at least. In addition, Aaron found it difficult to be passionate with a woman when he couldn't even see her face.

 _What a shame…_ he reminisced.

"Aaron?" Tali questioned, shaking him from his thoughts.

"Hmm? What's up?" Aaron replied, trying to not appear as if he had just been caught checking her out.

"I have a shotgun." she stated dryly.

Aaron's eyes shot forward immediately, "Roger that."

The two of them exited the elevator in the CIC, and walked to the conference room. Aaron took his spot around the table, and waited for the rest of the ground team to arrive. When everyone was gathered, Shepard gave his mission briefing.

"Alright, everyone, we're looking for a drell assassin. His name is Thane Krios." Shepard announced.

EDI displayed Thane's dossier where a hologram of the _Normandy_ usually was projected, allowing everyone to study who they were trying to recruit.

"I'm heading out to do some recon, see if I can get a lead on Thane's location. You're all free to roam around the port until then, but be ready to leave at a moment's notice." Shepard added.

He dismissed everyone for the time being. On his way out, Aaron downloaded a copy of Thane's dossier to his omnitool. Part of his job entailed that he know his targets well, and that meant doing research beforehand.

"Shepard, got a minute?" he asked before Shepard could leave.

Shepard nodded, "What's up, Aaron?"

"I figured you could use some help finding leads on Thane. I kinda track people down for a living." he offered, smirking.

"I don't see why not. Meet me at the airlock in five minutes." Shepard accepted. Aaron nodded before making his way there.

The two of them disembarked the _Normandy_ together, with Shepard suggesting they stop by an old friend of his first. Liara T'Soni, a member of his original team, had become a successful information broker on Illium. She was able to tell them that Thane's target was definitely in Nos Astra, but she didn't know who. After all, assassins usually didn't discuss their targets openly. She directed them to the cargo transfer levels, as she believed that Thane had received assistance from someone there. The two thanked Liara for her assistance, and began making their way to the cargo transfer area.

"So, about Liara. I know she was part of your crew two years ago, but can we trust her?" Aaron asked after they left Liara's office. "I normally avoid information brokers when trying to find a target. Every single one of them has their own agenda, and I'd prefer not to get caught up in it."

"Trust me, Aaron, Liara is a friend. She wouldn't play any games with us." Shepard responded.

Aaron raised no further objection, though he still didn't fully trust Liara.

The conversation topic switched a few minutes later.

"So, what do you think about Tali?" Aaron inquired.

"She's one of the best engineers I've ever met, probably _the_ best. I wouldn't trust anyone else more with keeping the _Normandy_ running." Shepard answered. "Not only that, but she's extremely loyal, and a skilled fighter. She's a huge asset to the team."

"That's nice and all, but I wasn't looking for a professional opinion. What do you think of her as a person?" Aaron probed.

He noticed that Shepard shifted his weight a little at the question. Most anyone would've missed it, but Aaron wasn't just anyone. He was skilled at reading people, that's one of the reasons why he was so successful as a bounty hunter.

"Well, she's a great friend. She's always there when you need her." Shepard answered.

Aaron could tell when people were telling the truth, lying, or holding back information. Shepard was definitely holding something back. He decided to see what he could get out of the Commander.

"Good to know. To be honest, I've been trying to get to know her better since I joined up." Aaron stated. "I mean, what guy wouldn't want to? The way that suit hugs her body just right, and those hips…"

Shepard rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Are you sure this is appropriate?"

 _There it is, gotcha._ Aaron thought.

Truthfully, Aaron had no intentions of trying to get with Tali, the only reason he was pressing this topic was because of how Shepard was acting. He had talked with Shepard about pursuing various women aboard the _Normandy_ a few times in the previous week. Every time, Shepard either ignored him or jokingly told him to have at it, fulling knowing his pursuit would fail. Never had Shepard acted so nervous, or subtly told him to drop the subject.

"Okay, okay, whatever you say. Just wanted to make you aware that you might be receiving a complaint from her sooner or later." Aaron joked.

He laughed to show Shepard he was joking, and Shepard laughed weakly in response. Aaron noticed that Shepard had swallowed before laughing, along with a few other signs he was uncomfortable.

 _There's something else there…_ he observed.

Before long, the two had arrived at the cargo transfer area.

"So, how do you want to approach this?" Shepard asked.

Aaron looked at the asari working in the office, observing their interactions with each other.

"The trick is to find the right person to gather information from. You have to choose someone in the right place of the chain of command." he explained. "Pick someone too low, and they won't know anything. Pick someone to high, and they won't tell you anything."

"Alright, so who do you suggest we talk to?" Shepard asked.

Aaron observed them for a few more minutes. He saw one asari who was obviously giving and receiving orders, she appeared to be low-level management.

"Her." Aaron pointed out.

He waved for Shepard to follow, and led him over to the small office area.

Aaron approached the asari he had pointed out, "Excuse me, Miss…"

He leaned closer to read the asari's badge.

"Miss Seryna. Do you have a minute to answer some questions?" Aaron asked.

Seryna glanced up at him, obviously annoyed, "And just who are you two?"

Shepard stepped forward, "I'm Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. And this is Aaron Sorenson."

The asari's eyes widened, "Commander Shepard, I heard you were dead. And I've never heard of you, Daron."

Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "It's _Aaron_. And that's beside the point.

"We're looking for a drell, name's Thane Krios. Our intel said he passed through here recently, we're hoping someone here can point us in the right direction." Shepard stated.

Aaron studied Seryna's face, reading her expressions carefully. At the mention of Thane's name, her eyes quickly darted away from the two of them. He noticed a slight hitch in her breathing, and she swallowed before responding.

"Thane Krios? I've never heard of him." Seryna lied. "I'm sorry, but a lot of people pass through here. I can't remember everyone who comes through, even a drell."

"Don't remember him, huh? That's a shame, we were really hoping _you_ could help us." Aaron responded. "Oh well, we'll go talk to your superior. I'm sure they would like to know that an _assassin_ stopped here for information."

Aaron began to walk away, and waved for Shepard to follow him.

"Wait, wait. Follow me." Seryna stopped them.

Aaron glanced over at Shepard, who both smirked at each other. The asari led them to a back room where they could talk freely.

" _Goddess_ , are you two trying to get me arrested? What do you want with Krios anyway?" Seryna asked, visibly pissed off.

Aaron took a step closer to her, staring her down.

"That's not important. Tell us what we want to know, or Nos Astra police will be getting an anonymous tip implicating a certain cargo transfer official." he threatened.

Seryna relented, and answered all of the duo's questions. Thane's target was a powerful asari businesswoman named Nassana Dantius. This mission became more interesting to Aaron, as he knew she had a sizeable bounty on her head, one of the very few on Illium. He hoped that he could cash out on that bounty, and increase his reputation at the same time. Thane had come to Seryna for assistance because she used to be head of security for Dantius. She told the two that Thane was preparing to move on Dantius that night, at Dantius Towers, her corporate headquarters.

"Well, all things considered, that was easy. You deal with corrupt officials often?" Shepard asked after they left.

"All the time. If you press them right, they'll give out information like it's Halloween candy." Aaron answered. "The one thing the corrupt fear is others knowing they're corrupt. If you threaten to expose them, you can get whatever you want from them."

Shepard nodded, "Makes sense, though I've never spent much time with corrupt officials. I prefer a more direct approach."

"And _that's_ why you recruited me. Don't get me wrong, I love kicking down doors and shooting bad guys as much as anyone, but sometimes the subtle approach is better." Aaron noted.

Shepard chuckled, "See, I know I recruited you for a reason."

"Damn right you did. Hey… after this mission is over, how long are we staying on Illium?" Aaron asked.

"Well, Thane's not the only person we're recruiting. We're also here for an asari justicar named Samara." Shepard answered. "I figure we'll be here for a few days. Why, something you want to do while we're here?"

"Well, I was hoping to explore the nightlife here a bit. I mean, we're on a planet _full_ of asari, Shepard." Aaron replied, smirking.

Shepard laughed softly and shook his head, "They're will be plenty of time for that _after_ we pick up our recruits."

"Aye aye, sir." Aaron responded, giving a lazy salute.

* * *

Later that night, Shepard briefed everyone on the mission before they headed out. It was about a 15 minute drive from the docks to Dantius Towers. Garrus piloted the shuttle while Shepard took three team members in a skycar. They parked outside, and the ground team split into two squads. Shepard would take one squad up the still under construction second tower, where Thane would most likely be as well. Garrus would take another squad through the main tower, to make sure Dantius couldn't escape and at least one squad would run into Thane. Garrus, Miranda, Jack, Mordin, and Grunt headed for the first tower while Shepard, Aaron, Tali, and Jacob made their way towards the second. Aaron and Jacob, not surprisingly, were not pleased with the prospect of working together. As the squad approached, they heard the sound of gunfire and people screaming inside the main lobby.

"Let's move, people!" Shepard ordered the squad.

All four sprinted inside the building, to find security mechs firing upon innocent salarian workers. The squad cut down the mechs easily, and discovered that Dantius had programmed them to fire upon the workers. With no time to waste, the four began their ascent to the top of the tower.

As the squad moved through one of the many hallways of the building, Aaron suddenly heard the sound of someone moving through air ducts. He swung his assault rifle to the ceiling, preparing for someone to drop down from above.

"Anybody else hear that?" Aaron asked.

He glanced to the side to see Shepard, Tali, and Jacob all pointing their weapons towards the ceiling as well.

"Yeah, someone's definitely in there. The problem with air ducts is you can never be sure where the person is." Shepard explained, still searching for enemies. "That person could be right above us, or a few stories up. Either way, keep an eye out."

They pushed onward, when suddenly, a dead body fell from the ceiling and landed on the floor a few feet in front of them.

"Holy shit!" Aaron yelled, startled by the body.

" _Keelah,_ where'd it come from?" Tali asked, shocked as well.

Shepard walked over to the body, which was an asari dressed in Eclipse combat armor.

He looked up, and pointed for the rest of the squad to see, "There's a hole in the ceiling that goes up a about four floors. She most likely fell from up there."

Seeing that it was an asari, Aaron instinctively loaded his rifle with warp ammo, in order to combat biotics.

"You think our assassin had anything to do with this?" Jacob questioned.

Shepard nodded, "It makes the most sense. Well, at least we know that Eclipse mercs are here."

The four kept moving, and came to a large atrium. The area was full of Eclipse mercs, who were waiting for Thane. Instead, they found the squad. Both sides immediately opened fire, and the room exploded into a hail of gunfire. Aaron tossed out a few flashbangs, Jacob let loose with his biotics, and Tali sent out her combat drone, Chatika. Four mercs that were hit by Aaron's flashbangs stumbled out from cover, and were quickly cut down by Aaron and Shepard.

"Aaron, see if you can get to the second floor and flank them!" Shepard ordered.

Aaron patted the Commander on the shoulder, "You got it! Cover me!"

Shepard, Tali, and Jacob laid down suppressive fire, while Aaron ran out of cover. He activated his boosters as he approached the second floor railing and flew upward. Aaron grabbed onto the railing and vaulted over, ducking behind cover immediately. An asari and salarian merc who were on the second floor started running towards him, and he threw another flashbang. When it detonated, Aaron shot the salarian and shoved the asari to the side. She stumbled into the railing and fell backwards, landing on the main floor with a thud. The asari struggled to her feet, only to get hit with a blast from Tali's shotgun.

"Thanks for the assist!" the quarian thanked into the comms.

Aaron grinned, "Anytime!"

Now that they were taking fire from two sides, the Eclipse mercs didn't last long. Most fell in rapid succession, although one asari, a lieutenant, was proving to be quite difficult.

"I got her!" Aaron announced.

Shepard glanced up at him, "Aaron, wait, let's be smart with…"

He tapered off when he saw Aaron jump from the second floor, activate his boosters, and practically land on top of the asari. The bounty hunter pulled out his combat knife and plunged it into the merc's throat, killing her. He wiped his knife on her combat armor to remove the purple blood, before placing it back in its sheath.

" _Damn_ , did you all see that? That was awesome!" Aaron exclaimed after jumping to his feet.

"That _bosh'tet_ is insane." Tali stated, shaking her head and quietly laughing.

Jacob wasn't so amused, "Commander, that was completely reckless. He could've gotten himself killed!"

" _Relax_ Jacob, he's just got a different fighting style than you and me. He's done the same thing plenty of times in the combat simulator." Shepard retorted.

Aaron casually strode over with a grin on his face, "Jealous you couldn't take care of her yourself, Jacob?"

"We had it taken care of, you should've waited for us to come up with a plan." the Cerberus operative shot back.

Aaron laughed, "You _sure_ looked like you had it taken care of. That's why I had to finish her off myself, right?"

"Alright, alright, that's enough you two. You both have a point." Shepard interrupted, stepping between the two. "Jacob, you've seen it yourself, Aaron knows what he's capable of. And Aaron, although it worked this time, try not to make a habit of doing that."

The squad continued to fight there way up the tower, and linked up with the other squad about an hour later, just outside Dantius' penthouse. As they approach the door to the penthouse, they dispatched the last remaining mercs outside, with Grunt picking up a salarian and throwing him off the roof. Tali hacked the lock on the door, and the team stepped inside the office. Inside they found Dantius, along with three Eclipse commanders. The mercs immediately trained the weapons on the squad, with the squad responding in kind.

"Wait, before you kill me, tell me who hired you." Nassana requested.

The mercs glanced at each other, not liking the asari's lack of faith in them.

Shepard stepped forward, "We're not here to kill you, but we're looking for the person that is."

"But you _will_ be coming with us, you have a sizeable bounty on your head. The Council can't wait to put you in prison." Aaron added.

Nassana scoffed, "Like hell I'm going to prison! I'll die before I…"

She was interrupted by someone dropping down from the ceiling behind her. A drell snapped the neck of one merc, then quickly punched the other in the throat. He pulled his pistol from his holster, shooting another merc and then executing the one he had punched in one fluid motion. Nassana whirled around and pointed her pistol at the assassin, but she was disarmed without much effort. The drell shot her in the stomach, and laid her dead body down on the console.

"Goddammit! She's only worth half the bounty now that she's dead, asshole!" Aaron yelled at the assassin in frustration.

Shepard held up his hand for him to stop talking. The drell didn't respond, instead folded his hands and began praying.

"Thane Krios?" Shepard asked.

The drell looked up and nodded, "Yes. One moment, please, prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

After a few more moments, Thane was finished.

"I saw you and your team arrive shortly after I did, and I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me. Well, here I am." he stated.

While Shepard and Thane conversed, Aaron moved to Dantius' body. He patched her wounds with medi-gel in order to stop the bleeding, then hoisted her body over his shoulder. Aaron returned to the team just when Thane was agreeing to join up.

"I will work for you, Shepard. No charge." Thane stated.

"Glad to have you on the team, Thane. Now, if you're finished here, we can head back to the _Normandy_." Shepard replied.

Thane nodded, "Lead the way."

As the team headed back to the skycar lot, Thane approached Aaron.

"My apologies for my actions causing a reduction in your bounty. However, when I accept a contract, I always see it through." the drell apologized.

Aaron shifted Dantius' position on his shoulder, "I can understand that. It's just… I have a reputation of bringing in bounties alive, which I'd like to maintain."

"I'm aware of your reputation, Mr. Sorenson. You're quite the impressive bounty hunter." Thane stated.

Aaron was so surprised that Thane knew who he was that he almost dropped Dantius' body.

"You know who I am?" he asked, bewildered.

"Of course, I keep track of most bounty hunters in the galaxy. Sometimes a target of mine also has a bounty placed on them, so I like to make sure I get to them first." Thane answered. "Your name appears frequently on C-Sec bounty collection records. I always try to know where you are and who you're after."

Aaron was ecstatic that Thane knew who he was, "I didn't realize that assassins were so interested in me."

"A knowledgeable assassin realizes they may not be the only ones hunting a target. And you're quite the hunter, so it pays to keep tabs on you." Thane explained.

"I like you already, Thane." Aaron stated.

* * *

 **Author's Note: If you are a fan of Star Wars, you should definitely check out my Star Wars one-shot I recently published! It's titled _Pieces of the Past_ , and is set a few years before The Force Awakens. I put it out there to test my skill in writing Star Wars fanfiction, which I might switch to after finishing _RtF_ and _UB:P_. Also, be sure to vote in the poll on my profile, where you can choose which time period you'd most like to see an AU First Contact story set in. Make your voice heard!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Bar Fight

_5/11/2185  
_ _Nos Astra, Illium_

The bright rays of Illium's sun shined through the viewport of the starboard cargo area. The positioning of the sun in the sky meant that the light hit Aaron directly in his closed eyes, stirring him from a peaceful sleep. He was momentarily blinded when his eyes opened, and an expletive escaped his mouth as he raised his hand to shield himself. After his eyes adjusted to the light, Aaron pulled up his omnitool to check the time, and saw that it was a little after 13:00.

 _Jesus, I slept past noon?_ he thought incredulously.

Aaron tried to sit up, but a pounding headache forced him to lie back down in his cot. He groaned softly as his temples throbbed, trying to ease the discomfort by massaging them with his hands.

 _That mission last night must've taken a lot out of me_. Aaron observed.

After lying down for a few more minutes, he swung his legs over the side of the cot and onto the floor, sitting up as he did so. Another groan escaped his lips as his head protested, but Aaron knew a hot shower would do him some good.

After putting on a pair of athletic shorts in addition to the boxers he had worn while sleeping and grabbing his towel and toiletries, the bounty hunter made his way to the elevator. The patter of feet on the metal floor could be heard as Aaron walked, as he hadn't bothered to put on shoes. His attire gained a few glances as he walked through the crew deck to the men's bathroom, most of the present crew looking at the large black square tattoo he had on his right bicep. Aaron chose to ignore everyone, the lingering fatigue from yesterday's mission had put him in a sour mood. He opened the door to the bathroom, and saw Jacob shaving in front of the mirror, dressed in only a towel wrapped around his waist.

 _Fuck, just what I need._ Aaron thought.

"Aaron." Jacob greeted, no emotion in his voice.

"Asshole." Aaron replied, smirking.

The Cerberus operative paused and glared at the bounty hunter's reflection in the mirror.

"Nice tattoo on your arm. Is there some deeper meaning, or are you just the type of idiot that gets a square tattoo?" Jacob asked rhetorically.

"There's a meaning, but I don't usually reveal it to terrorists." Aaron shot back.

Jacob just flipped him off, a gesture which was reciprocated.

Aaron stepped into the shower stall, removed his shorts and boxers, and hung them over the door. He turned on the shower, sighing contentedly as the warm water cascaded over him. Aaron began washing himself when he heard Jacob turn off the sink faucet, a sign that he was done shaving.

 _Thank God he won't be around when I'm done_. he thought as he rubbed shampoo into his hair.

All of a sudden, Aaron saw his clothes being pulled off the shower stall door. He kneeled down so he could see underneath the door, and saw a pair of dark-skinned feet standing just outside.

"Goddammit Jacob, put my clothes back!" Aaron demanded.

He heard Jacob laugh, "Not only are you the type of idiot to get a square tattoo, but you're also the type of idiot to leave his clothes lying around for anyone to take."

Aaron wiped away shampoo that was getting dangerously close to his eyes, "Jacob, I swear to _God_ if you don't…"

He was interrupted by the sound of a toilet flushing, and moments later his skin began to burn as scalding hot water came pouring out of the shower head. Aaron yelped in pain as he struggled to shut off the shower, his skin turning beet red from the excessive heat. He fumbled with the latch on the door, fulling intending to kick Jacob's ass when he got out. Aaron finally opened it, only to trip on the edge of the shower and tumble face down to the floor.

With his skin boiling from the water and his eyes burning from getting shampoo in them, he choose to simply lie on the bathroom floor, moaning in pain. Jacob stood above him, an evil smirk on his face and laughing softly. He slowly walked out of the bathroom, tossing Aaron's clothes out into the hallway. Aaron reluctantly pushed himself to his hands and knees, unsuccessfully trying to wipe the shampoo from his eyes. Garrus entered the bathroom moments later, and it would be an understatement to say he was surprised to see Aaron naked, on his hands and knees, moaning in discomfort on the bathroom floor.

"Uh… Aaron… are you okay?" Garrus asked, not sure how to handle this situation.

Aaron turned to look at the turian, "Yeah… I'm… fine. Just had some trouble with the shower, no big deal."

"Ah… of course. That shower can be… tricky." Garrus responded, still utterly confused.

Aaron staggered to his feet and got back into the shower, choosing not to continue the awkward conversation.

* * *

Later that day, Aaron found himself browsing the trading floor of the Nos Astra port. After recruiting Thane the previous day, Shepard had decided to give everyone a day of shore leave. Aaron, dressed in his favorite black leather jacket, decided that today would be the perfect time to enjoy what Nos Astra had to offer. And by that, he meant the asari. Aaron had already decided to head to a bar called 'Eternity', which came highly recommended. However, it was still just late afternoon, the bar scene wouldn't be good for another hour or so. Due to this, Aaron decided to do a little window shopping to pass the time. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten his first paycheck from Cerberus yet, and he had already spent most of his bounty reward from capturing Paetal Pojao, so he was a little low on credits at the moment. Not to mention, the goods for sale in Nos Astra were extremely expensive. Aaron tried haggling with a few merchants for a lower price on an omnitool upgrade, but to no avail. He checked the time on his omnitool, and seeing that it was 17:31, decided that it was time to head to the bar.

As Aaron climbed the staircase that led to Eternity, his mind was occupied, hoping they served barbecue chicken wings. He hadn't noticed the three men who had been watching him since he had entered the trading floor. The leader motioned for the other two to follow, and they trailed the bounty hunter to the bar. Aaron's stomach growled as he ascended the stairs, his meager lunch no longer satisfying his hunger. As he entered the bar and began walking to the counter, he glanced around to take in the scene. To his right, there was a human man, a turian man, and a salarian man seated around a table, with an asari exotic dancer dancing on top. It looked as if it were a bachelor party, and Aaron made a mental note to perhaps try to join in the festivities. On the far side of the bar, a quarian woman and turian man were seated at a table together, having a conversation. As Aaron was skilled at reading body language, he could tell by how they were sitting that the turian was romantically interested in her, but the same couldn't be said for the quarian.

What he was surprised to see was another quarian woman in the bar, standing over to his left next to an asari who was talking to someone on her omnitool. She wore the same black environmental suit as every member of her species did, and her version of the traditional fabric shawl was a deep green color. The cloth had an intricate design of green and black lines that met at 90 degree angles. Despite her appearance, it was her body language that had caught Aaron's attention. Her's was that of someone who was feeling defeated, as if she had given up at something. The woman's hands were clasped together in front of her hips, and her head was pointed towards the floor. Aaron noticed her shoulders rise and fall, she was sighing. For some reason he couldn't explain, this quarian had fully captured his attention. His heart broke as he saw her, she looked so ashamed and pitiful. Aaron was confused as to why he felt this way, never the one to care much about other people's problems. She glanced up, having seen him looking at her from her peripheral vision.

Aaron had stopped walking, and his mouth hung slightly agape as his eyes met hers. Her bright, luminescent eyes, clearly visible even behind her light green visor, locked with his. The look she had in them was that of someone pleading for help. After a few moments, the woman looked away, turning to face the floor once more. Aaron continued to look at her, a quiet voice inside of him urging him to do something.

 _You saw the way she looked at you. She needs help, go talk to her._ the voice stated.

 _What? No, I… I shouldn't get involved, it's none of my business._ Aaron countered.

He turned away from the woman, and continued towards the bar counter.

If an inner voice could sigh in disappointment, his did, _You know that's not true._

Aaron shook his head to clear his thoughts, determined to not let thoughts of some sad-looking quarian woman ruin his night off. He sat down on one of the barstools in the middle of the counter and grabbed a nearby menu. Aaron was overjoyed to see that this bar did, in fact, serve barbecue chicken wings. An asari bartender, a matriarch by the look of her, came over to take his order.

"What'll you have?" she asked, sounding disinterested.

Aaron ordered 12 boneless wings and a beer, and the bartender left to place his order and get his beer.

As he waited, he looked along the counter to his left and right. A female turian and asari sat to his left, and on his right sat an attractive human woman. She had tan skin and black hair which was cut in a bob cut. The woman wore a knee-length red dress, which accentuated her features quite nicely. She glanced to her left and caught Aaron in the act of checking her out. Instead of looking disgusted or turning away, the woman smiled and winked at him before taking a sip of her drink. He smiled in return before turning away. The bartender brought him his beer, and Aaron took a gulp before setting it down on the counter. For reasons unknown to him, he felt compelled to check on the quarian woman again. Aaron complied with this feeling and turned around in his chair so he could see her. She was still standing in the same place, next to the same asari, looking just as miserable and dejected as before.

 _Aaron, she needs help, go talk to her._ his inner voice repeated.

Aaron nodded, reaching back to grab his beer to take another drink. As he was about to stand up and walk over to the quarian, the woman who had been sitting to his right took the seat immediately next to him.

"Are those all for you, or do you plan on sharing?" she asked, her Spanish accent immediately detectable.

Upon hearing her voice and seeing her sitting next to him, all thoughts of the quarian woman left Aaron's mind. Initially confused at her question, he glanced towards the counter and saw that his chicken wings had arrived. Aaron looked back at the woman in the dress and smiled his charming smile.

"Now, what kind of a gentleman would I be if I declined?" he responded, sliding the basket of wings towards her.

She laughed softly, "Glad to see chivalry isn't dead after all."

The woman grabbed a plastic fork from a nearby dispenser and stuck it into one of the wings. Aaron followed suit, secretly a little upset that he was now sharing his wings.

 _The things I do for women_. he thought.

"I'm Maria, by the way." the woman introduced.

"Aaron. Pleasure to meet you." Aaron replied.

Maria gave him a flirtatious look, "The pleasure's all mine. So, Aaron, what brings you to Nos Astra?"

His initial impulse was to tell the truth, that he was part of Commander Shepard's team and they were here recruiting. Aaron stopped himself from saying that for two reasons. First, as far as the vast majority of the galaxy knew, Shepard was dead. He could imagine this woman would find it hard to believe that he was working with a dead Spectre. Second, he still wasn't exactly sure if their mission was supposed to be kept a secret or not, especially since they were technically working for Cerberus. So, Aaron decided to lie.

"Oh I'm just here for work. Nothing too exciting" he responded.

"Oh? And what kind of work would that be?" she questioned.

"Bounty hunting. I tracked a target to Nos Astra, so here I am." Aaron responded, smiling. "Just don't tell anyone I said that. Wouldn't want someone tipping off my target."

Maria giggled, "Don't worry, my lips are sealed. I've never met a bounty hunter before, I'm sure you have some exciting stories."

He was quite eager to share some stories that exhibited his bravery, courage, and all-around heroicness, but a sudden pressure on his back stopped him dead in his tracks. The feeling was unmistakable, someone had a pistol barrel pressed against him. Whoever was responsible must've hidden the gun well, because no one else in the bar was reacting.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here. If it isn't Jason DeWitt himself, in the flesh." came the telltale voice of a turian. "Or should I say, _Aaron Sorenson_. It took us awhile to figure out your real name."

As if the gun to his back wasn't enough, the mention of the name 'Jason DeWitt' caused Aaron's heart to drop. 'Jason DeWitt' was a false name he had only used during a specific time of his life, and very few people ever knew him by that name.

 _Shit…_ Aaron thought.

He tried to reach for the Carnifex he had holstered on his hip, but the turian used his free hand to grab it first. Simultaneously, someone unseen by Aaron shoved him forward and pinned him with his face to the bar counter. Maria gasped at the harsh treatment, and looked between the three men standing behind Aaron with wide eyes.

"You, get out of here." the turian ordered to Maria.

She didn't hesitate to grab her purse and run out of the bar. Once she had left, the man who had been pinning Aaron to the counter released him. The bounty hunter slowly turned around to face the men behind him, and turian holding the pistol to him pressed it into his stomach. Once he did, he discovered that along with the turian, there was a male batarian and male human there as well. Aaron's heart dropped even further when he discovered they were all wearing Blue Suns armor.

The turian had handed Aaron's Carnifex to the human, who was now discreetly pointing it at him. The bounty hunter didn't recognize the human or the batarian, but did remember the turian. There was no mistaking the maroon facepaint, the scar along his right mandible, and of course, the Blue Suns armor.

"Manius, what an _unpleasant_ surprise. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Aaron half-heartedly greeted, smiling smugly. "I would say it's good to see you, but it's _really_ not. Who are your thugs?"

"Still a sarcastic asshole, huh? And what's wrong with me stopping by to see an old friend?" Manius replied. "We have a booth over on the other side of the bar. Join us."

Aaron shook his head, "Thanks for the offer, Manny, but I should really get going. I'll let you and your boyfriends enjoy your date in peace."

He tried to get up from his stool to leave the bar, but the batarian pushed him back down and delivered a harsh jab to his nose. Aaron recoiled in pain and instantly clutched his nose. He pulled his hands away and saw they were covered in blood. Blood continued to pour from his nose, which was surely broken, and began to drip off his chin to the floor.

"I wasn't asking. Let's go." Manius insisted, pushing the barrel of his pistol harder into Aaron' stomach.

The asari bartender rushed over after seeing the batarian throw a punch, "Hey! Absolutely no fighting! If you have a problem, take it outside!"

"Relax, it was just a simple misunderstanding. We're good now, right Aaron?" Manius asked.

Aaron still clutched at his nose, "Oh yeah, just peachy. Hey, could I get a towel or something?"

The bartender tossed him a towel, which Aaron held to his nose. Manius grabbed Aaron by the shoulder and pulled him from the barstool, leading him to a booth in the back corner of the bar. Most of the patrons had seen the batarian merc punch Aaron, and were now watching the four of them intently as they walked by. Aaron glanced over towards the quarian woman, who was looking back at him with rapt intention. He guessed he probably looked more pitiful now than she had before. When they had reached the booth, Manius shoved Aaron into it.

"Christ, Manny, I'm capable of sitting down on my own." he growled.

"Shut up Jason… Aaron… wait, which one is your real name?" Manius asked, puzzled at which name was the fake.

Aaron sighed, it was no use hiding it anymore, "It's Aaron. And what do you guys want with me anyway?"

Manius sat down across from Aaron, and the batarian sat next to the turian. The human merc sat next to Aaron, still training the Carnifex at him.

"Vido Santiago misses you, Aaron. He was heartbroken when you left." Manius answered facetiously. "We've been looking for you ever since. So, you'll be coming with us, Vido wants to personally welcome you back."

Aaron knew that what Manius actually meant was Vido, the founder of the Blue Suns, wanted to torture him, and then probably kill him. Neither of which sounded really appealing to him.

"Well I hate to disappoint you guys, but that's not gonna happen. Tell Vido I miss him too, but he can kiss my ass." Aaron stated bluntly.

Manius laughed, "Not a chance, asshole."

Aaron just leaned back down into the booth seat.

Manius turned to the batarian, "Let the rest of the squad know we have Aaron. Tell them to come pick us up."

The batarian nodded and opened his omnitool, preparing to call the rest of the squad. Suddenly, an idea popped into Aaron's head.

"If we're gonna be here for awhile, can I at least take off my jacket?" he asked Manius.

The turian shrugged, "Whatever."

As Aaron took off his jacket, he set it down on the table in front of him. He waited a few moments until Manius looked away, and then threw the jacket towards his head. The turian didn't react in time, and the jacket landed on his head, preventing him from seeing anything. Aaron seized the opportunity, elbowing the human merc next to him in the face. While the human recoiled in pain, Aaron pushed him out of the booth after taking his Carnifex from his hand. The batarian tried to hop over the table and restrain him, but the bounty hunter immediately shot him in the head from point-blank range. Manius had just pulled the jacket off his head, only to see the barrel of Aaron's pistol pointed straight at him. He pulled the trigger, splattering blue blood and brain matter all over the wall behind them. Aaron then turned his attention to the human merc, who had recovered from Aaron's assault. He tried to punch the bounty hunter, but his wild haymaker was easily blocked. Aaron swept the mercs legs out from under him, and swiftly put a bullet through his head. He quickly hit the panic button on his omnitool, alerting the rest of the team that he was in trouble.

Almost immediately afterward, Nos Astra police burst into the bar. The asari bartender had called them after Manius had punched Aaron, sensing something was off. The nearest police station was only a few blocks away, and the police had arrived shortly after Aaron had thrown his jacket. The officers immediately trained their guns on Aaron, and ordered him to drop his weapon. He immediately complied, dropping to his knees and putting his hands behind his head.

"I know it looks bad, but it was self defense, I swear!" Aaron pleaded.

One of the asari officers, a lieutenant, shoved him onto his stomach forcefully.

"Quiet!" she ordered.

While several officers arrested him, the rest prevented any patrons from leaving the bar, in order to collect as many eyewitness statements as possible.

"Please, I need you to call Commander Shepard from my omnitool. We can work this out." Aaron continued, his words slurred due to his face being held to the floor.

The same lieutenant dug her knee further into his back, causing him to grunt in discomfort.

"I said be _quiet!_ " she ordered again.

A couple officers pulled him to his feet, and began leading him to the door.

"No no no, you're not listening, just call Commander Shepard. I'm part of his team, I think his Spectre authority might extend to me." Aaron added hurriedly, trying to reason with the officers.

Just as Aaron and the officers were about to exit the bar, Shepard, Tali, and Garrus burst threw the door, fully armored and guns drawn. They had expected a firefight, but instead, found their teammate in omni-cuffs, his nose bleeding heavily, and a bar full of Nos Astra police. All the officers immediately trained their weapons on the heavily-armed trio, who cautiously holstered their weapons to prevent any mishap.

"Who the hell are you?" the lieutenant asked.

"I'm Commander Shepard, Council Spectre." Shepard identified.

The asari's eyes widened, "Commander Shepard? I thought you were dead."

"I've been getting that a lot lately. Here, I'll give you my identification code." he replied, sending the code to the lieutenant's omnitool.

"Give me a minute, I'll have to verify this with my superiors." the lieutenant said, walking away to make the call.

Shepard then walked over to Aaron, "What the _hell_ happened here?"

"Shepard, it was the _craziest_ thing! These three Blue Suns mercs came out of nowhere and started assaulting me." Aaron lied. "They pulled their guns on me for _no_ reason at all and threatened to kill me! I have no idea why, considering I had _never_ seen them before in my life."

"That's not true, the turian called him Jason DeWitt. He also knew the turian's name, Manius or something." the bartender cut in.

Aaron shot the bartender a nasty look, who just smirked and walked away.

Shepard crossed his arms, " _Aaron_ , explain how you knew each other."

Aaron had to think quickly in order to come up with a convincing lie.

"Okay, okay, _maybe_ in the past I used the help of the Blue Suns on the Citadel to track down a target while using a fake name. And _perhaps_ afterward I gave their location of their base of operations to C-Sec." he lied again. "You know these merc types, they can never let go of a grudge. I mean, what I told C-Sec did kinda lead to the shutdown of their entire operations on the Citadel, so I can see why they would want to find me."

"Uh-huh…" Shepard replied, not entirely convinced.

He looked at Aaron for a few more seconds, trying to see if he was lying or not by his body language. Unfortunately for him, Aaron was an expert and controlling his own body language, so Shepard couldn't get anything from him.

He then turned to whisper Tali and Garrus, "Talk the the patrons or staff, see if you can find out anything else."

They both nodded, with Garrus going to talk to the bachelor party and Tali going to talk with the same quarian woman Aaron had been fixated with earlier.

Shortly after, the lieutenant came back to Shepard and Aaron.

"Your code checks out, Commander. Apologies for pointing our guns at you and your team, but you can never be too cautious." she said.

"I completely understand, no apologies necessary. Now, I'd like to use my Spectre authority to secure the release of my team member." Shepard replied.

The asari nodded, "Of course."

She released the omni-cuffs from around Aaron's wrists, and left to continue overseeing the crime scene cleanup.

Aaron rubbed his sore wrists, "Hey, Shepard, thanks for…"

Shepard interrupted him by holding up a hand, "Save it, head straight back to the _Normandy_. I'll talk to you later."

"Roger that, sir." Aaron replied, and slowly began making his way back to the _Normandy._

A few minutes later, both Tali and Garrus returned from talking with the patrons and staff.

"Find out anything new?" Shepard asked.

"Everyone I talked to basically said the same thing. The mercs approached Aaron at the counter, then a minute or so later one of them punched him in the face." Garrus reported. "Then, they led him to a booth in the back corner. A few minutes later, they heard gunshots, but nobody saw exactly how the fight started."

"Well, at least Aaron didn't provoke them, they came at him first. Tali, did you hear anything else?" Shepard asked.

Tali shook her head, "Nothing else about Aaron and the mercs. But, I did talk to this quarian woman, and… well… you should come hear for yourself."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Be sure to vote in the poll on my profile, where you can choose which time period you'd most like to see an AU First Contact story set in. Make your voice heard!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Indentured Servant

**Author's Note:** **I want to start responding to reviews from the previous chapter, in order to give shoutouts to people who reviewed and to answer questions posed in reviews that others might have. (If I already responded to your review in a PM, then I'm posting my response in case others have the same question).**

 **Blaze1992** **: Aaron's really only had a problem with Jacob. I'm sure everyone has had experiences with someone who you just can't get along with. Also, I had Aaron join around ME2 instead of ME1 because I felt his addition to the story would make more sense with Shepard recruiting all the other various crew members. His absence during the events of ME1 will be plot points addressed later in the story. In addition, I believe I stated this in an author's note in _Unbreakable Bond_ , but the reason I don't include Zaeed and Kasumi in my stories is I never played the games with those DLCs. I don't know the characters well enough to accurately portray them, nor do I feel the need nor want to include them.**

 **winddemon199 : So glad to hear you're loving the shit outta this story, because I'm loving the shit outta writing it! And you'll find out a lot about the quarian woman in this chapter.**

 **WolfNeon : So glad to hear it!**

 **lambo105 : Only time will tell if Aaron will begin to trust the team, and vice versa. And you'll find out if the quarian woman joins the team in this chapter!**

 **Koriander.K : Thanks for the compliments! And in regards to Aaron and the quarian women getting into a relationship... Let's just say that love can be strange sometimes.**

 **Aftermath212 : Always a pleasure to get a review from you! And Jacob views mercs and bounty hunters as having no morals, or more accurately "morals for sale". It'll take a lot to convince him otherwise.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _5/11/2185  
_ _Nos Astra, Illium_

Aaron slowly trudged out of Eternity, taking a seat on the stairs just outside. He gently massaged his temples as he sat, trying to relieve the building pressure that was causing his headache.

 _Fuck, that was not how I planned this night going._ Aaron thought.

Running into Manius of all people, almost being kidnapped, having to kill three mercs, and nearly being arrested by Nos Astra police. It was safe to say that his night had been ruined. He suddenly opened his eyes, remembering that he had been interrupted by the mercs before he finished his chicken wings. Aaron jumped to his feet and bounded up the steps, hoping that his meal would still be sitting on the bar counter inside.

 _Maybe some part of this night can be saved._ he hoped.

Aaron tried to open the door, but found it locked.

 _Figures, the police probably sealed the entire area._ he observed.

Aaron knocked on the door a few times, hoping someone would let him in. After a few seconds, the door slid open, revealing the same asari lieutenant who had almost arrested him not 15 minutes ago.

When she realized who Aaron was, she raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"You again? What do you want?" the lieutenant asked, rather bluntly.

"Hey, it's me again. So, before this whole mess with the mercs started, I was eating dinner here." Aaron explained. "See, because I was almost kidnapped, I never got to finish. And since I paid for the food, I was hoping you'd let me back inside to grab it real quick."

The officer looked at him like he was the dumbest person in the galaxy.

"Are you serious? _Get lost_ , moron." she demanded, before closing the door on him.

Aaron let out a frustrated grunt, "Oh, so _this_ is how Nos Astra police treats a victim of a crime!"

He kicked the door out of anger before sitting down on the steps again. Aaron put his head in his hands, slowly shaking his head.

"Dammit." he whispered.

As Aaron sat there, he heard a soft patter. He opened his eyes, and saw a few drops of blood on the ground. That reminded him that his nose was definitely still broken. Luckily, no blood had dripped onto his clothes. With a sigh, he pushed himself to his feet, deciding it was best to go back to the _Normandy_ and have Dr. Chakwas examine it. Walking through the still busy trading floor, Aaron glanced around, hoping to see Maria waiting for him. He felt that the two had really hit it off, and though he wouldn't be able to do anything tonight, he wanted to at least get her omnitool number so they could meet up another day. Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

When Aaron set foot back on the _Normandy_ , he was immediately tracked down by a very annoyed Miranda, "Aaron, what the _hell_ happened out there? I swear to God, if you causing trouble ends with us getting kicked out of Nos Astra, I'll…"

"Woah, woah, woah, hang on, _me_ causing trouble? I didn't cause, or start, anything!" Aaron interrupted. " _I'm_ the victim here! Those mercs started harassing me for no reason, and almost _kidnapped_ me!"

She crossed her arms in front of her, "Oh really? And you expect me to believe that you are completely innocent?"

" _Yes_! Ask Shepard! Or Tali! Or Garrus! Or literally _anyone_ else in that bar!" he exclaimed, frustrated that everyone immediately assumed he was at fault.

Miranda closed the distance between them, with only a few inches separating the two.

"You better watch yourself. The last thing we need is unwanted attention being drawn to us." Miranda sternly warned. "If anything you do jeopardizes this mission, you'll be off this ship before you know it. Do I make myself clear?"

Aaron didn't respond, simply opting to glare at Miranda, and she at him. If looks could kill, both of them would surely be dead.

"Crystal clear." he finally answered, malice dripping from his words.

"Good, then we won't have a problem. One more thing, _never_ interrupt me again." Miranda ordered before briskly walking away.

"Aye aye… bitch." Aaron muttered under his breath.

He immediately made his way to the medbay, where he found Dr. Chakwas looking through files on her console.

"Hey, Dr. Chakwas." Aaron greeted, somewhat sheepishly.

Chakwas turned around in her chair to see who had entered, "Oh, Aaron. Good to see… oh my, what happened to your nose?"

"Oh, you know, just your average, everyday, ordinary bar fight. Though, if you think I looked bad, you should see the other guys." Aaron answered, letting out a small laugh.

Chakwas raised an eyebrow, "Ah, I see. Come, sit down, and I'll take a look at you."

The doctor managed to patch him up rather quickly, applying medi-gel to stop the bleeding and putting on a nasal brace to help set the cartilage in place.

Dr. Chakwas took a step back to examine her work, "Alright, in a few days you'll be good as knew. Hopefully those involved in your fight won't be causing you any problems in the future."

Aaron chuckled as he slid off the examination table and absentmindedly examined himself in a mirror, "I don't think I'll have to worry about them anymore, they're dead."

Dr. Chakwas, understandably surprised at this revelation, stared at him in shock. Aaron, realizing what he had just said, immediately tried to smooth things over.

"Oh, don't worry, they tried to kidnap me. They were Blue Suns mercs, by the way." Aaron explained. "It was entirely in self-defense. I've been cleared by both Shepard and Nos Astra police."

Chakwas became visibly more relaxed after hearing that Aaron didn't just murder a few people in a bar fight.

"Well, in that case, be careful out there. Our mission is dangerous, and you never know when or where danger will find you." she advised.

Aaron nodded and smiled, "Right you are, Doc, I'll be sure to try and avoid any unnecessary confrontations. Thanks for patching me up, I appreciate it."

"Anytime, Aaron." Chakwas replied.

As Aaron waved goodbye and left the med bay, she watched him as he made his way to the elevator.

 _Such a strange young man. He's going to get himself killed one day._ Chakwas thought, shaking her head.

Aaron took the elevator down to the Engineering Deck, and walked to his 'room' in the port cargo area. After having his night thoroughly ruined by just about everyone he came into contact with, he needed to blow off some steam. And, for him, there was no better way to do that than a little exercise. Aaron promptly removed his jacket and shirt, opting to go shirtless, and replaced his pants with athletic shorts. He specialized in a hand-to-hand combat style that was based heavily on Krav Maga, and decided a little training was in order. Aaron set up his training dummies, and began playing his classic rock playlist on the sound system. With everything ready to go, he began training.

* * *

 _Concurrently_

Shepard and Garrus followed Tali over to where a quarian woman was standing. Shepard could immediately tell that she was on her pilgrimage, as her fabric suit shawl was the same as Tali's had been while she was on her's. The younger quarian appeared visibly depressed, her eyes glued to the floor, trying her hardest to be invisible. She perked up slightly when she saw the trio approaching.

"Fleet-sister, this is the man I was telling you about. His name is Shepard, he can help you." Tali stated.

"Commander John Shepard, Council Spectre. What seems to be the problem?" Shepard asked.

The quarian woman said nothing, her eyes nervously darting from Shepard, to Tali, to the ground. She nervously began rubbing her arm.

Tali reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, "It's okay, fleet-sister, you can trust him. He helped me when I was on my pilgrimage, and he will help you too."

"How about we start with your name?" Shepard inquired in a soft, calm voice.

By the way she was acting, he could tell this woman was in trouble. Just how much trouble was still to be found out.

The quarian woman took a deep breath, "My name is…"

Before she could finish, an asari woman, a matron by the looks of her, who had been talking on her omnitool, turned around and walked briskly towards the group.

"Excuse me, who are you? Why are you talking to her?" she asked in an annoyed tone. "Come on, girl, we're leaving."

The asari attempted to lead the quarian woman away, but Tali stepped between the two.

"Back off you asari _bosh'tet_! I should shoot you right here for what people like you do to quarian pilgrims!" she yelled, jabbing a finger into the asari's chest.

Before the confrontation could escalate any further, Shepard stepped in and pushed the two apart.

"Tali, _calm down_. And ma'am, we're just trying to figure out the situation here." he asserted.

The matron became even more flustered, "There's _no_ situation, _nothing_ to figure out. We. Are. Leaving."

She grabbed the quarian woman by the hand and attempted to leave. As the asari turned around, she bumped right into Garrus, who had slowly and quietly snuck behind her during the confrontation, completely unnoticed.

"Leaving so soon? I think you should stay awhile longer." he remarked, his mandibles spreading slightly into a grin.

"This is absurd, you have no authority to keep us here." the asari replied.

Shepard countered, "My _Spectre_ authority says different. Now, I suggest you calm down and tell me what exactly is going on between you and this woman."

The matron, realizing it was best to cooperate with a Spectre, sighed heavily.

"This quarian is an indentured servant, and I was planning on selling her contract to Synthetic Insights. She's a skilled AI tech, and the entire deal appeared to be finalized." she explained. "We were planning on meeting the S.I. representative here, but that altercation between the that human man and the Blue Suns mercs scared her away. Now, the rep won't answer or return my calls, I just finished leaving her a voicemail when I saw you talking to the quarian."

"Indentured servant? She's a _slave_ , Shepard!" Tali retorted. "This isn't the first time this has happened to a pilgrim. They get into a tough situation, and someone offers to help, only to sell them into slavery!"

"Tali, _relax_." Shepard ordered, his voice stern but calm. He then turned back to the asari. "Is that true?"

"She's an _indentured servant_ , not a slave. Before you do anything hasty, know that this quarian signed the agreement voluntarily, and her servitude contract is completely legal on Illium." she answered.

"I believe 'this quarian' has a name. Fleet-sister, what's your name?" Tali asked.

The younger quarian, who had been looking at the ground until this point, looked up at Tali, "My… my name's Jessa. Jessa'Laaz nar Tiram."

"Why'd you sign the agreement, Jessa?" Shepard questioned.

"I… tried to play the stock market. I'm really good with numbers, and I thought I had a way to make unlimited money." Jessa explained. "I lost all the credits I had, then I took out a credit line, and lost that too. Then I… took out an illegal loan… and… you get the picture."

"As part of our agreement, I paid off her debts. Five years from now, she'll have a fresh start and excellent work references." the matron added.

"Why are you trying to sell her in the first place?" Shepard inquired.

"I'm a contract broker, it's my job to buy and sell contracts to interested parties. I have no need for a servant." the asari answered. "Plus, with quarians' strict health requirements, she'd be too expensive for me to care for. I don't have the resources needed for clean rooms, suit repairs, and the like."

Suddenly, an idea popped into Shepard's head, "So you have no buyers, no reason to keep her, with no resources to sustain her. Couldn't you claim medical necessity as a reason to make her contract void?"

The matron thought for a few seconds.

"Yes, there is a stipulation that exists for those with severe medical ailments. I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier, probably because it never has been used for quarians." she answered. "Eighty percent of the contract will be refunded, and the quarian will be free of her servitude. I'll go put the request through."

After about half an hour of making calls, the asari returned and told the group that Jessa's contract was void. She was now a free woman, though it was expected the stipulation would now be closed to quarians. After the matron had left, Jessa, turned to face the trio.

"Oh Ancestors, thank you all _so_ much! But, if you don't mind me asking, why did you help me, a complete stranger?" she asked.

"I remember being in a pretty tough position during my pilgrimage. I know how hard it can be." Tali responded sympathetically. "You made a few mistakes, but everyone deserves a second chance. So, what will you do now that you're a free woman?"

Jessa smiled behind her visor, "I honestly have no idea, I thought it'd be five years before this moment would come. I guess I'll start looking for honest work, something having to do with VIs or sanctioned AI research."

An idea had been floating around in Shepard's head for about ten minutes, and he decided to act on it.

"Jessa, have you ever heard of the Collectors?" he asked.

Tali looked at him, confused, "Shepard?"

"The Collectors? I've only heard a few things about them." Jessa replied. "They're very mysterious, only a few people have ever made contact with them. Why do you ask?"

"They've started abducting whole human colonies. I'm building a team to go after them, recruiting the best the galaxy has to offer, and I want you on my team." Shepard stated. "You wouldn't be part of any combat, but I do have a very advanced AI, and I could use a skilled AI tech. What do you say?"

Before Jessa could answer, Tali objected, "Shepard, I think this is a bad idea. It's _way_ too dangerous, especially for someone who's untrained."

"I'm in." Jessa answered softly.

"Like I said, she wouldn't be in any combat role. She'll be safe aboard the _Normandy_." Shepard stated.

Tali countered, "It's practically a suicide-mission, even the _Normandy_ won't be safe when we hit the Collector homeworld. And she's only on her pilgrimage, Shepard, she's _too_ young."

"I said I'm in." Jessa answered again, a little more loudly this time.

"Then we can drop her off at the Migrant Fleet before we go through the Omega-4 relay. And Tali, you were about her age when you signed up to take down Saren." Shepard retorted.

"Shepard, I'm an admiral's daughter, I was given the best training available. I doubt she received the same." Tali asserted.

"Excuse me!" Jessa yelled, though she was surprised at how loud it actually was.

She covered her mouth in embarrassment while Shepard and Tali looked at her.

Jessa took a deep breath. "I said I'll join you, it'll be my way of returning the favor you gave to me. As long as I won't be in combat, I'll be more than happy to be your AI tech." she stated cheerfully.

"Alright then, welcome to the team Jessa. If you haven't already guessed, I'm Commander Shepard, and this is Tali'Zorah vas Neema." Shepard introduced. "And last, but not least, this is Garrus Vakarian. You'll meet the rest of the crew when we return to the _Normandy_."

Tali and Garrus each took turns welcoming her to the team. Jessa joined the trio as they made their way back to the _Normandy._ On the way back, Tali ever so gently broke the news to her that Cerberus was founding the mission. Jessa initially freaked out, and understandably so, but she eventually calmed down as the entire situation was explained to her. She realized that even though Shepard might be a part of the same organization that attacked the Migrant Fleet, they definitely didn't share the same views. In addition, he had aliens on his crew, and showed compassion and a willingness to help a quarian, something true Cerberus operatives would never do. Shepard assured her that he was in control, not Cerberus, and that they were only funding the mission. Jessa then declined an opportunity to leave the team in spite of the new revelation. Though it would take some time getting used to, she believed she would be able to get used to it. Plus, when Jessa was told how much she would be getting paid, there's was no way she could turn that down. Little did she know that Cerberus wouldn't be what would take the most time and effort to get used to.

* * *

Once back aboard the _Normandy_ , the problem of where Jessa would sleep was addressed.

"Unfortunately, all the sleeping pods have been assigned. The only option I can think of is we could set up a cot for you in the port cargo area, if you don't mind having a roommate." Shepard offered.

Tali's eyes widened, "No no no, we can _not_ stick her with Aaron."

"Who's Aaron?" Jessa asked.

"He's one of the new recruits, like you, except he's on the ground team. He's arguably the best bounty hunter in Council space, and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to tell you all about that." Shepard answered, then turned to Tali. "And Tali, there's really nowhere else for her to stay. I feel a _hell_ of alot more comfortable putting her with Aaron than I would with Jack or Grunt."

"Is there something wrong with him?" Jessa asked, suddenly worried about her new roommate.

Tali crossed her arms, "What isn't wrong with him? He's narcissistic, selfish, childish…"

"He just let his fame get to his head a little, he has a bit of an inflated ego. Aaron is a _valuable_ and _respected_ member of the ground team." Shepard interrupted, using the emphasis to tell Tali to stop. "He won't be a danger to you, if that's what you're worried about. Just get to know him a little, and I'm sure you two will get along great."

"He's still a _bosh'tet_ …" Tali muttered under her breath.

After Jessa had received her mental and physical evaluations, Tali offered to give Jessa the 'new recruit tour' of the ship. She was introduced to everyone on the ground team, as well as the entire crew, and EDI. The two of them spent a good amount of time in the AI core, considering that was where Jessa would be working. The AI and the tech got to know each other a bit before the tour was continued. After showing her around Engineering and introducing her to Ken and Gabby, the only person she had yet to meet was Aaron, her new roommate.

"EDI, is Aaron onboard?" Jessa asked.

EDI's telltale blue orb appeared in the hallway outside of Engineering, "My sensors indicate that Aaron is in his quarters, in the port cargo area just down the hall."

"Oh hell yeah, I _love_ this song!" came a muffled shout from the port cargo area as Guns N' Roses' 'Welcome to the Jungle' began blaring over the sound system inside.

Jessa could only assume that voice belonged to Aaron.

Tali looked at Jessa, "Alright, let's go meet your new roommate."

Before they could, the doors to Engineering opened up, revealing Gabby.

"Tali, the power converters are acting up again. Are you sure we shouldn't just replace them?" she asked.

Tali shook her head, "No need, they just need to be adjusted again, I'll show you how. Just give me a minute, Jessa, and I'll be right back."

With that, the new recruit was alone in the hallway. The terrible sounds continued to come from inside what would soon be her new room.

"In the jungle, welcome to the jungle, watch it bring you to your sha na na na na na na na knees, knees! I wanna watch you bleed!" came Aaron's poor attempt at singing, mixed with grunts and heavy breaths from his workout.

 _Is that...music? Ancestors, it's awful… how do humans find that enjoyable?_ Jessa wondered.

She began getting slightly nervous about meeting Aaron, and understandably so. Tali's description of his personality, combined with his, in Jessa's view, horrid taste in music, made for a very unflattering picture of him in her mind. As her anxiety began to build, Jessa remembered the very last piece of advice her parents had given to her before she left on her pilgrimage.

"We love you, Jessa, so very much! Have confidence in yourself, and you'll do great!" they had told her, right before the doors to the departing shuttle had closed.

Lately, after the mess she'd gotten herself into on Illium, she hadn't had any confidence to speak of. But now Jessa had a second chance, and she wasn't about to waste it.

 _I don't need to wait for Tali to introduce me, I can do it myself. As long as I make a good first impression, I'm sure everything will be fine._ she thought. _Besides, if Shepard allowed this 'Aaron' on his team, he can't be that bad. Well, time to go make friends._

Mustering up all her confidence, Jessa began walking towards the door. As she opened it, she was expecting to find a grizzled, scarred, older man inside. Instead, when the doors opened, she found a young, very handsome man doing sit ups shirtless on the floor. The same, young, very handsome man she had seen at Eternity a few hours earlier.

 _Oh Keelah, this is the man those mercs tried to kidnap!_ Jessa realized.

Shocked by the discovery, she just stood in the doorway for a few seconds, speechless and motionless. Instead, it was Aaron who spoke first, noticing the quarian standing in the door.

"Oh, hey there! Hold on, I'll pause the music!" he yelled over the sound of a guitar solo.

Aaron hopped to his feet, and activated his omnitool so he could pause the playlist. He strode over to the doorway, his usual charming smile on his face, and extended a hand towards Jessa.

"I'm Aaron Sorenson, bounty hunter and member of the ground team." Aaron introduced.

Jessa shook his hand, "I'm Jessa'Laaz nar Tiram, nice to meet you, Aaron."

She took a second to admire Aaron. To say the very least, she was smitten with him, despite the brace on his nose.

 _Keelah, look at his abs, and his arms! His smile, his hair, his eyes, this is going to be much better than I expected!_ Jessa noted excitedly. _And he's actually being nice to me! That's definitely first, maybe this is a sign..._

She pushed those thoughts away just as quickly as they had come, dismissing them as mere foolishness. Jessa was just a quarian, after all, no human men had ever shown any romantic interest in her. Actually, only a few quarian men had ever shown any interest in her. A young, handsome human man like him probably already had a girlfriend anyway. Unbeknownst to her, Aaron was admiring her the same way, though more in a sexual way rather than romantic.

 _Damn, are all quarians this attractive? I mean, come on, look at her hips!_ he thought, deciding he definitely wanted to get to know her better. "Nice to meet you too, Jessa. Wait a sec… are you the same woman from Eternity?"

"Yes, that was me, I'm surprised you remember. I should be thanking you, actually." she replied. "Long story short, your fight with those mercs actually inadvertently saved me from a pretty bad situation. I can tell you the whole story later, but for now, thank you."

Aaron and Jessa both laughed softly at the coincidence, and how Aaron almost getting kidnapped actually helped someone.

"You're very welcome, and I'd love to hear the full story sometime. It's kinda late now, maybe you can tell me over breakfast tomorrow?" he offered.

Jessa shyly bit her lip and blushed, thankful that her visor prevented Aaron from seeing.

 _Did he just ask me to join him at breakfast? Me? The nerdy AI tech he just met?_ she thought incredulously, but happily. "I'd... I'd like that a lot."

Aaron smiled again, "Awesome, can't wait to hear it. So, I bet you're looking for Engineering?"

Jessa tilted her head, surprised by the question, "Engineering?"

"Yeah, you're a quarian, good with ships and all that, right?. That's probably why Shepard brought you aboard." Aaron explained. "It's just down the hall. Come on, I'll show you."

Jessa was taken aback, stunned at how he had just stereotyped her, though Aaron didn't mean it like that at all. At worst, it was a slightly prejudiced comment. At best, it was a misguided attempt to help someone. Regardless, Jessa's mood soured instantly.

"Excuse me? This is actually my room." she asserted, anger detectable in her voice.

Aaron raised an eyebrow, "Uh… no, this is _my_ room. I think you're mistaken."

Something inside of Jessa snapped. For months, she had been bullied by others and treated poorly simply because she was a quarian. Discriminated against while trying to find jobs, refused entry into businesses, all the mean remarks she'd heard. On top of all that, she would've been sold into indentured servitude had Shepard, Tali, and Garrus not intervened. Simply put, she had had enough. And even though Aaron's comment had only been slightly offensive at worst, Jessa viewed it as another instance of prejudice. And even though nobody had told Aaron that he was getting a roommate, she viewed his questioning of her as another instance of her being discriminated against. Perhaps it was because she was tired after a very long and extremely stressful day, or maybe it was because she was over-zealously trying to follow her parents advice to be confident in herself. Whatever the reason, Jessa wasn't going to take it any more. She balled her hand into a fist, pulled her arm back, and punched Aaron in the stomach. Jessa normally wasn't one for violence, but after months of mistreatment by others, she didn't care anymore.

The punch was particularly strong, nor was it particularly painful for Aaron. However, by sheer chance, Jessa's punch had hit the perfect spot to knock the wind out of him. He recoiled backwards, clutching at his stomach and wheezing as he fell to the ground.

 _What the hell was that? I thought this conversation was going well!_ Aaron wondered, trying to figure out where it had gone wrong.

As he was lying on the ground, gasping for air and coughing, Jessa instantly recognized that she went too far. She realized his comments hadn't been too insensitive, and she had reacted to severely, taking out months worth of anger and frustration on him. Jessa stammered out an nervous, quiet apology before briskly walking away from the port cargo area. Due to her anxiety, she mistook one of the doors to Engineering as the elevator, rushing inside and almost bumping into Tali, who was coming out.

She perked up upon seeing the new quarian again, "Oh, hey Jessa. Thanks for waiting, let's go meet…"

Tali's sentence tapered off as she noticed Aaron, on his hands and knees, taking deep, labored breaths in the doorway to the port cargo area. She turned to Jessa, whose body language screamed nervousness, guilt, and shame.

Tali could only sigh and shake her head, _By the Ancestors, now what?_

* * *

 **Author's Note: The poll on my profile closes tomorrow night, so this is your last chance to vote on which time period you'd most like to see a AU First Contact story take place in! Make your voice heard!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Misunderstanding

**Author's Note : Hey everyone! _Redeeming the Fallen_ has passed 5,000 views, so thank you to everyone who has read it so far! Now, on to reviews:**

 **lambo105 : They both sure had a rough start to them working together! Glad you liked my spin on the slave/indentured servant encounter on Illium!**

 **Koriander.K** **: Quarian women are indeed great! I wonder if a certain bounty hunter will view one them the same way...**

 **Arkraiththeepicbrony** **: Glad you like the story! One the biggest things I tried to do was make sure Aaron wasn't a Mary Sue. He has the things he's good at, but like all humans, he has flaws, and some serious ones at that. To often I see stories where the OC is a perfect human being in every way, sometimes even a better warrior than Shepard, which detracts from the story severely. I want to make Aaron feel like he could be a real person, which means having him have flaws like everyone does.**

 **seabo76 : Thanks! This story is too much fun to write for me to give up on it. **

**Stramstein : It continues now!**

 **Enjoy the update! Also, my one year anniversary as a fanfic writer was on July 25th. So, to celebrate that, I have a big surprise for you all in the author's note immediately following this chapter!**

* * *

 _05/11/2185  
_ _The Normandy_

Commander Shepard was sitting at his desk in his private quarters, filling out a mission report for Thane's recruitment. Or, in other words, his least favorite part of the job. Ever since he had first been given a command role all those years ago in the Alliance Marines, mission reports had been his least favorite thing to do. Shepard wasn't much of a writer, and felt there were much more important issues he could be attending to. Such as seeing how Thane and the _Normandy's_ newest recruit, Jessa'Laaz, were adjusting to life onboard the ship. However, Cerberus was no different from the Alliance, despite the Illusive Man's claims otherwise, and mission reports were a necessary part of the job. He finished detailing the conversation he had with the drell assassin in the penthouse of Dantius Towers, and submitted the report to Cerberus Headquarters for review. Shepard leaned back in his chair, and tried to rub the stinging tiredness from his eyes. It hadn't helped that he had been sitting in the dark writing the report, the only light coming from the fish tank and his terminal. It was late in the day cycle, and Shepard was still tired from Thane's recruitment the day before. Not to mention that a few hours earlier, he had had to sort out the situation at Eternity that Aaron caused. Shepard decided to head down to the mess hall, grab a quick snack, and then retire for the night.

Before he could even leave his chair, he heard the alert that someone was outside the door to his room.

"Who is it?" Shepard called out, hoping that it was Tali coming for a visit.

Instead of waiting for a response, EDI answered, "Shepard, Aaron Sorenson is requesting entrance to your quarters, along with Jessa'Laaz nar Tiram. Should I let them in, or tell them you are indisposed?"

He paused for a second, giving serious consideration to lying and having EDI tell the two that he was asleep. Whatever it was they needed to see him about, it could most likely wait until tomorrow. As he was debating, he heard knocking on the door.

"Shepard? It's Aaron. The new recruit, Jessica, and I have a problem we need to discuss with you!" Aaron yelled, his voice muffled by the door.

"My name's _Jessa!_ Stupid _bosh'tet_ …" Jessa corrected, her voice heavy with annoyance and anger.

"What did you call me? You tell me what that means _right now!_ " he demanded.

Shepard groaned in frustration as he leaned farther back in his chair, rubbing his temples with his hands in an attempt to relieve stress.

 _Goddammit. They've been together for, what, an hour at most?_ he thought. "EDI, turn on the lights and let them in. I'll see what this is about."

"Certainly, Shepard." the AI responded, complying with his orders.

Before the doors to the Captain's Quarters were even fully opened, Aaron had pushed inside and made his way to Shepard. Jessa followed shortly after, nudging her way past Aaron and closer to Shepard.

"Aaron, Jessa, what can I do for you?" the Commander asked, trying to sound actually interested.

"Shepard, would you kindly explain to Jessa that the starboard cargo area is my quarters? I don't do roommates." Aaron requested.

Jessa rolled her eyes, "Captain Shepard, would you please tell Aaron that _you_ said we're supposed to be roommates."

"No, that's bullshit! No one else has to share a room with anyone!" the bounty hunter protested. "Plus, she _assaulted_ me just a few minutes ago! She should be kicked off the ship!"

Jessa went silent and hung her head when Aaron mentioned how she had punched him.

Shepard ran his hand over his face, "Aaron, I'm sorry, but Jessa will be living in the starboard cargo area with you. I have nowhere else to put her, do you think I should put her with Jack or Grunt?"

Aaron ran his hand through his hair, "Well… I mean… I don't think that would be such a bad idea, actually."

Shepard gave Aaron a dumbfounded look, "Absolutely not, I'm not putting a young quarian woman in the same room as a psychotic biotic or an unstable krogan. Aaron, it's settled, she's your roommate, and I don't want to hear about this again."

Aaron thought about protesting further, but instead fully considered the situation he was in. He was making more money than ever before, and had a chance to actually save the galaxy from destruction. Just thinking about the fame he could possibly gain from this mission made him drop the issue.

"Fine, I won't bring it up anymore." Aaron relented.

Shepard let out a sigh of relief, "Good, glad that's settled. Now, Jessa, what is this about you assaulting Aaron?"

Aaron turned his head towards the quarian woman, giving her an angry stare. Jessa was trying to make herself as small as possible, hoping she would disappear and not have to answer the question.

"Jessa?" Shepard asked, his tone a bit more demanding.

"Captain Shepard, I… I punched him in the stomach. I'm sorry, Aaron, I shouldn't have done that." the quarian genuinely apologized, looking Aaron in the eyes.

The bounty hunter's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting at all for Jessa to apologize.

"And why did you do that?" Shepard questioned.

Before Jessa could reply, Aaron did for her, "You know what… I… said something I probably shouldn't have said. I'm sorry too, Jessa."

Shepard was surprised by the bounty hunter's apology. He expected that Aaron wouldn't take responsibility for his actions, like he always had done. Instead, he had done the mature thing.

"Captain Shepard, I think it's probably the same on human ships, but in the Migrant Fleet, striking another crew member is a serious offense. I will accept whatever punishment you hand down, even if it means I get kicked off the ship, sir."

Shepard was equally surprised that Jessa was so accepting of the consequences of her actions.

"In situations like these, I usually ask the victim if they think the assault was worthy of punishment. So, Jessa, I'll need to talk with Aaron in private."

"Yes, Captain Shepard." Jessa replied, sadness in her voice.

She promptly exited the room and went into the hallway. Once the door had closed behind her, Jessa leaned her back against the wall, and slid down to sit on the floor. She pulled her knees to her chest, and rested her head on her crossed arms.

 _Keelah, Jessa, what did you do? You had a great chance to work on an advanced AI, to help save the galaxy, and you blew it._ Jessa chastised herself mentally.

After a few minutes, but what felt like an hour, the door to Shepard's quarters opened. She looked up, surprised to see Aaron standing in front of her.

"You can come back in now, Jessa." he invited warmly, offering a hand to help her up.

Aaron helped her up after she took his hand, and the two walked back inside, standing where they had earlier.

Shepard was still seated at his desk, "Jessa, Aaron and I talked, and he decided that no punishment should be in order."

Jessa turned towards Aaron, not able to believe that he would just drop the issue like that.

"What? Why? Not that I'm not thankful, but, why?" she asked him, incredulously.

"Well, I think the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. You know, two roommates just getting used to each other." Aaron replied, smiling and nudging her playfully with his elbow.

Now it was Jessa's turn for her eyes to widen in surprise, she hadn't expected this outcome at all.

"Oh… yeah… I-I guess so. Thank you for being so understanding, and I promise it won't happen again." she thanked, almost at a loss for words.

Aaron laughed softly, "Don't mention it."

"Well, I think that settles everything, agreed?" Shepard asked.

"Agreed." the two roommates answered.

The Commander clasped his hands together and rested his elbows on his knees, "Excellent. If either of you two need anything else, you know where to find me."

The two roommates exited Shepard's quarters just as Tali was exiting the elevator. The two quarian women exchanged quick greetings as they passed, but Aaron remained just outside the doorway. Tali sighed in frustration when she saw the bounty hunter. His eyes darted back and forth between Shepard's quarters and her a few times.

He pointed a finger at Tali, "Are you and Shepard…"

Tali interrupted him by stepping closer to him and jabbing a finger in his chest, "I swear to the Ancestors, if you tell anyone I'm up here, I'll kill you, you _bosh'tet_. Do I make myself clear?"

"There's that word again! Somebody has to tell me what it means." Aaron replied, moving her finger away from his chest. "And take it easy, firecracker, I won't tell anyone what's going on. I don't like to meddle in other people's love lives, so you're secret's safe with me."

"Good, I just don't want word of this getting out. And sorry for the aggressiveness, it's… been a long day." Tali apologized with a sigh, hanging her head slightly.

Aaron let out a deep breath, "Amen to that. I'll see you on the mission tomorrow."

With that, the two parted ways, Aaron heading to the starboard cargo area and Tali into Shepard's quarters.

* * *

 _05/12/2185  
_ _Nos Astra, Illium_

Aaron leaned up against the outside wall of the Nos Astra police station at one of the city's many enormous spacedocks. Shepard was inside the station, along with Tali and Garrus, questioning a certain detective named Olina Anaya as to the whereabouts of an asari justicar named Samara. She was the last potential recruit the Illusive Man had given Shepard, and she was confirmed to be in Nos Astra right now, so it made sense that Shepard would attempt to recruit her now. Despite Aaron's talent for reading people and obtaining information, the Commander decided it was best for him to sit out on this intel-gathering session. Shepard's reasoning being that his Spectre status was the only thing that was keeping the bounty hunter out of Nos Astra police custody. It was no doubt that they would love to keep Aaron in a holding cell, thoroughly questioning him about the 'self-defense killings' he was involved in at Eternity the day before. Despite his love for asari, his idea of a good time didn't include himself omni-cuffed to a desk with a bright light shining in his face.

As Aaron waited outside the station, he noticed a volus waddling around the spaceports, giving orders to various workers. He paid no mind to volus at first, it wasn't uncommon to see them in the trading capital of the Terminus Systems. One would be hard pressed to find them on a less important world, but where there was money to be made, there would be volus around. As Aaron's mind drifted off to the abyss, he didn't notice the volus make his way over to him.

"Excuse me… Earth-clan? May I have a moment… of your time?" the merchant asked him, in between breaths.

The sound of the volus' voice shook Aaron from his thoughts, "Huh, what? What do you want?"

"Am I correct in assuming you are wishing to gain entrance… into that crime scene?" the volus asked again.

Aaron shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not? Why do you care?"

Years of experience of talking with and manipulating people for information had taught him a lot. One of the most important things Aaron learned was to never be upfront with his intentions.

"The Eclipse mercenaries that control this area… are in possession of something of mine, a shipping manifest. I would pay… handsomely if you were to acquire it for me." the merchant told.

The bounty hunter had been curious as to what the volus wanted, but after credits where mentioned, he had his full attention.

Aaron squatted down so he was on the volus' level, "That's not exactly part of my mission parameters. I could, however, be persuaded to keep an eye out for it, for the right price."

"I'm willing to offer 5,000 credits for its safe return." the merchant offered after pausing to think.

Aaron raised his eyebrows, "5,000? Are you kidding me? 10,000 sounds about right to me."

Another important thing he'd learned over the years was to never accept anyone's first offer, they were always willing to pay more.

" _7,500._ " the volus countered.

" _9,000_ , or I walk away. Last chance." the bounty hunter insisted.

Aaron knew that anyone willing to pay 7,500 credits for a shipping manifest was desperate, and he was betting this volus was very desperate. The volus paused again to think it over.

"Fine, we have a deal. 9,000 credits… for my shipping manifest." the merchant agreed. "My name is Pitne For. The manifest will have my name on it."

Aaron smiled and stood up, "I'll see what I can do about finding your manifest."

For nodded, "Excellent. Now, while you're here, can I interest you in…"

Instead of staying for the merchant's sales pitch, Aaron turned and walked away, holding up a hand to signal the volus to stop talking.

As Aaron was walking away from For, he saw Shepard, Tali, and Garrus exited the police station. The Commander waved him over, and the bounty hunter jogged over to where the rest of the ground team was gathering. The crew gathered in a loose circle in order for Shepard to give the mission briefing.

"Nos Astra police confirmed that Samara entered that crime scene not too long ago. However, they have no idea of her intentions, so it's best we approach her with caution." he relayed. "Therefore, I'm only taking Tali and Aaron with me. The rest of you, stay here for now and wait for my signal, understood?"

Everybody in the group nodded, it was a simple mission after all. Get in, find and recruit Samara, and get out.

"Alright, you two good to go?" the Commander asked his chosen squad.

Aaron reached over his shoulder to grab ahold of his assault rifle, detaching it from the magnetic holster. He flipped off the safety after the weapon extended automatically in his hands, and loaded in a fresh thermal clip. Tali did the same with her shotgun.

"Ready, Shepard." they both answered.

The three squadmates were waved past the holographic crime scene tape by two police officers, who gave them a warning about heavy merc activity in the area. As expected, it didn't take long before a group of two asari Eclipse mercs and three LOKI mechs were spotted. Shepard held up a fist, signaling the trio to hold position. The Commander then gave Aaron the hand signal for a flashbang and smoke grenade, while signaling for Tali to hack one of the mechs. Both the bounty hunter and the engineer nodded in acknowledgement, both preparing their tasks. When they were ready, Shepard counted down from three to one with his fingers. On one, Aaron tossed his flashbang. The metal canister bounced a few times on the ground before rolling to a stop near the mercs, exploding with a deafening sound and blinding light. As soon as it detonated, Aaron tossed the smoke grenade. The two asari, still reeling from the flashbang, now found themselves coughing on smoke in addition to not being able to see or hear. The LOKI mechs sprung into action, searching for a target.

That's when Tali released her hack, taking full control of one of the mechs and ordering it to eliminate the other two. When the hacked mech opened fire, so did the squad. Shepard, Aaron, and Tali easily cut down the four remaining hostiles. Soon afterward, the hack caused the remaining mech to self-destruct.

"We're clear, everyone move up." Shepard ordered.

The trio continued down the corridor, checking down every alleyway for more mercs or mechs. Soon, they came upon a locked door to a small warehouse, and Tali naturally began breaking through the encryption. Within no time, the door opened, and the three stepped through. As soon as they did, an asari Eclipse merc came hurdling through the air towards the squad, screaming and arms flailing. Shepard, Tali, and Aaron ducked out of the way, none wanting to be in the path of the incoming enemy. The merc hit the doorway not three feet from Aaron with a sickening thud, the force from the impact clearly breaking her back and severing her spine.

 _Damn, sucks to be her._ Aaron thought as he looked at the crumpled body lying on the floor.

The bounty hunter, along with the two others, began searching for what, or who, could've thrown the asari with such force. It was Tali who spotted her first, getting the attention of Shepard and Aaron and pointing towards a raised platform.

On the platform stood two asari. One was clearly a member of Eclipse, she was wearing the telltale yellow combat armor and had a pistol pointed at the other. The second asari wore what appeared to be a something similar to a red jumpsuit with body armor. She carried no weapon, but was surrounded by pulsating, pure biotic energy.

"Is that the justicar?" Tali asked, her eyes glued to the scene taking place before them.

Shepard too was watching, "I'd bet on it."

Aaron trained his rifle on the merc and took a step forward.

Shepard stuck his arm out to stop him, "Hold up, let's see how this plays out."

The two asari circled each other for about half a minute, both exchanging words the squad couldn't discern. All of a sudden, the merc fired a shot at Samara. The round harmlessly impacted the justicar's barrier, who retaliated by flinging the merc across the room with her biotics. Similar to the first Eclipse member, this one screamed too as she sailed through a glass window and landed hard on a stack of crates before flopping to the ground.

"Ho… ly… shit." Aaron whispered, in awe of the raw biotic power on display.

Samara then jumped from the platform, her biotics flaring again as she softly drifted to the floor. She then rushed over to where the merc was still on the ground recovering, placing her heel to the other asari's throat.

"Find peace in the embrace of the goddess." Samara recited, before snapping the merc's neck.

Aaron and Tali exchanged surprised looks, taken aback by the swiftness and coldness of the killing. The justicar then turned her attention to the squad, and began slowly walking over to them. It was just now that Aaron was able to get a good look at her up close. The justicar appeared to be in the matriarch stage of her life, and the bounty hunter instantly noticed how revealing her outfit was. It took all of his willpower not to stare at Samara's half-exposed chest, fearing the hellfury that would come from Shepard if his inability to control himself led to a failed recruitment.

"My name is Samara, servant of the justicar code. My quarrel is with the Eclipse Sisters, but I see three well-armed people before me." the justicar introduced herself.

Shepard stepped forward, "I'm Commander John Shepard, Council Spectre. These are Tali'Zorah vas Neema and Aaron Sorenson, two of my crew members."

"Ah, Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre and Hero of the Citadel. I've heard much of your courageous fight against Saren Arterius and his geth armies, it's a pleasure to meet you." Samara replied. "Miss Zorah, I've also heard much of the crucial role you played in the fight against Saren, a pleasure to meet you as well. And Mr. Sorenson, forgive me, I'm unaware of your exploits, but it's a pleasure nonetheless."

"Yeah, I'm getting that more and more these days…" Aaron muttered to himself, slightly upset.

Shepard turned his head to give the bounty hunter a look, and he begrudgingly dropped the issue. As the Commander and the justicar began a discussion, Aaron slowly slipped away from the group. His original intention was to cross-reference the identities of the two dead mercs with C-Sec wanted lists, but the search came up empty. He was about to head back to the other three, when he spotted a datapad lying on a crate out of the corner of his eye. Aaron, remembering the offer Pitne For had made him earlier, walked over and picked it up. Sure enough, the shipping manifests for Minagen X3 that were on the datapad belonged to none other than the volus merchant himself. The bounty hunter had no clue what Minagen X3 was, but that didn't matter to him, only his newly-secured payday did.

 _Hell yeah, easiest 9,000 credits I ever made!_ Aaron thought to himself excitedly, storing the datapad in one of the pouches of his duster coat.

He peered over his shoulder back towards Samara, and saw her still conversing with Shepard, both their body languages showing them calm and at ease. Figuring he still had time to poke around the warehouse, Aaron began searching crates marked with the Eclipse insignia. Considering that they were an outlaw mercenary outfit full of murderers and thieves, his conscious didn't protest to him looking through their cargo. The first few crates held nothing of interest, but one crate in particular caught his attention. It was colored white, with the words 'Andromeda Initiative' written on it in light blue. Aaron had never heard of the organization the crate belonged to, but considering it had the Eclipse insignia stamped over the original logo, he correctly determined it had been stolen. He knelt down beside it, and initiated a rudimentary hack, hoping his basic knowledge of tech would be enough to decrypt the lock. Fortunately for him, Eclipse was lacking in their cybersecurity, and the crate opened within a minute. Inside, Aaron found about a dozen small harnesses, each equipped with what appeared to be a rocket booster. Considering he already utilized rocket boosters mounted on his boots, he decided this harness would be a perfect addition to his gear. Aaron quickly removed his leather duster, strapping the harness to him like a backpack. Before he had the chance to test out his new toy, he heard the sound of the door to the warehouse opening.

As Aaron turned back around, he saw Detective Anaya and the rest of the ground team joining Samara, Shepard, and Tali. Figuring now was a good time to return to the group, he quickly hid his harness by putting his duster back on and nonchalantly snuck back to where everyone was gathered.

"There must be some way we can all get what we need." Shepard said to Samara.

The justicar thought for a moment, "I see a way, while I am in custody, you find the name of the ship my target escaped on. Do that, and I will join you, and the Code will be satisfied."

"Consider it done." Shepard replied.

Samara nodded to him, then allowed an officer to place her in omni-cuffs. As she was being led out of the room, the justicar paused, and turned back to Shepard and his team.

"Be careful, all of you, the mercenaries here are not your average variety. Each member of the Eclipse Sisters must commit a murder to earn her uniform, an initiation of sorts, so each one should be considered dangerous." she warned.

With that, the officers preceded with bringing Samara back to the police station.

Shepard turned around to address his team.

"Okay everyone, we're going to split into three fire teams to cover more ground quickly. Tali, Grunt, and Thane, you're with me, we'll search the central sector of the docks." the Commander ordered. "Miranda, take Aaron and Mordin and search the west sector. Garrus, take Jack and Jacob to search the east. Everybody clear?"

A chorus of nodded heads served as the response from the group.

"Outstanding. Fire team leaders, remember to keep in comm contact. Okay, everyone, let's move out." Shepard commanded.

Aaron regrouped with Miranda and Mordin, not too excited about having to take orders directly from the Ice Queen. However, for the good of the mission, he swallowed his objections and fell in line. The trio made their way to the west area of the docks, and began clearing the area, searching room by room. Contrary to what the other two firing teams were experiencing, resistance in their sector was relatively light.

As the fire team prepared to clear it's next room, a voice could be heard coming from inside, most likely speaking to someone over comms.

"Aaron, take point." Miranda ordered in a whisper.

Aaron nodded, "Copy that."

The bounty hunter made his way to the access panel and loaded a fresh thermal clip into his Avenger, Miranda and Mordin stacked against the wall close behind. He opened the door, immediately stepping inside and scanning the room for hostiles, the two others following suit. There was a lone asari dressed in Eclipse armor in the room, her back turned to the trio, indeed speaking over the comms. Aaron holstered his assault rifle, pulled out his Carnifex, and quietly began moving towards the merc.

"The volus merchant, Pitne For, sold us nothing but shit. That Minagen X3, or whatever it's called, does enhance biotics, but the suit-wearing bastard forgot to mention it's also extremely toxic." the asari reported to an unknown individual. "Yeah, it killed everyone who volunteered to try it, eight soldiers in all. I say we kill the fucker, send a message about what happens when you fuck with the Eclipse Sisters."

Aaron pressed the cold barrel of his Carnifex against the back of the asari's head, and saw her body immediately stiffen.

"Uh… I'll have to call you back." the merc said, ending the call and slowly raising her hands in surrender. "By the goddess, _please_ , I beg you, don't kill me."

Aaron grabbed her by the arm and threw her to the ground, keeping his pistol trained on her the whole time. Miranda and Mordin also had their pistols aimed at the merc.

"Wait, stop! I'm _not_ one of them, I'm new!" the asari pleaded. "I thought being Elnora the mercenary would be cool, but I had no idea what they were really like! I haven't killed anyone, I swear!"

Aaron rolled his eyes, "Bullshit! We have intel that states any asari in this sector wearing Eclipse armor has murdered someone, and look what you're wearing."

"I say we kill her, just to be safe." Miranda added coldly.

Elnora began to panic, tears welling in her eyes, "No, that's not true! I just joined up a few weeks ago, I haven't…"

The merc was cut off by Miranda firing her pistol, the round ripping through Elnora's head, splattering purple blood and brain matter on the wall behind her. Her lifeless body slumped to the floor.

"Jesus…" Aaron muttered softly.

Mordin's eyes simply widened at the brutality displayed by the Cerberus operative.

"We don't have time to listen to lying mercs. She had the armor, so she committed a murder." Miranda said sternly. "It's as simple as that. Now move out, we've got more rooms to clear."

* * *

After an hour of searching rooms for any intel regarding the name of the ship where Samara's target had been smuggled off-world by Eclipse, each team had come up empty. Shepard radioed for each team to rendezvous by the main hangar, the last area with Eclipse presence in the docks. If there was any intel to be found, it would be found there. Once everyone had regrouped, the ground team entered the main hangar, guns drawn. Captain Wasea, the leader of the Eclipse Sisters, turned around to face the team, setting a datapad down on a table.

" _Everything's_ gone to hell since we smuggled that filthy creature off-world. First, a justicar shows up, now you all." she ranted. "At least I can take pleasure in turning all of you into a pulpy mess!"

Wasea's biotics flared to life, and she flung two large canisters of Minagen X3 at the team. The canisters exploded just after everyone had dove for cover, the room then exploding into a hail of gunfire as numerous Eclipse mercs opened fire. Shepard began barking out orders, calling for Tali to activate her combat drone, for Mordin to fire an incineration blast, and for all biotics to unleash hell.

He then turned to Aaron, pointing at an Eclipse member on a catwalk firing down on their position.

"Aaron! Do your thing!" Shepard commanded.

Aaron smirked, "Aye aye, sir!"

He immediately took off running towards the catwalk, activating his boot-mounted rocket boosters when he was within range. The bounty hunter landed a few yards away from the surprised merc, immediately trained his Avenger on her, and pulled the trigger. What happened next caused his heart to sink, his gun jammed. So, Aaron did what anyone would do in that situation, he grabbed his rifle like a bat and swung at the asari's head. The rifle connected with a crack, knocking the asari into the railing. The bounty hunter tried to pounce on her, unsheathing his knife to stab her, but a weak biotic shockwave from the merc sent him stumbling back. She slowly stood up and attempted to grab her rifle as Aaron hopped to his feet. The asari tried to shoot him, but the bounty hunter closed the distance between them too fast, knocking her gun away and driving his knife into her right arm.

Wasea, noticing the skirmish occurring on the catwalk, flung a powerful biotic throw attack at the pair, having no regard for her own soldier. Shepard noticed the attack hurdling towards his crew member.

"Aaron, look out!" he tried to warn over the comms.

The bounty hunter turned around just in time for the orb to impact him square in the chest, the energy causing his shields to fail and dissipating throughout his body. In an instant, the element zero coursing through him lowered his mass to practically zero, flinging him at an upward angle at intense speeds. He slammed forcefully into the wall of the warehouse near the ceiling, grunting in serious pain as he felt the strain on his bones. The biotic energy then immediately dispersed and gravity took over, sending him careening towards the floor. Aaron yelled in panic as he fell, flailing his limbs as the floor came closer and closer. Once he hit the floor, his whole world went dark, the sights and sounds of the gunfight raging around him replaced by sheer nothingness.

* * *

 **Author's Note : In celebration of my one year anniversary as a fanfic writer, I'm revealing the name and basic concept of my upcoming AU First Contact story!**

 _ **What Lies Beyond the Stars**_ **will take place during the final months of WWI, 1918 to be exact, as chosen by you all in my recent poll. It will follow the adventure of Joseph "Joe" Davis, as he becomes the first human to discover that humans aren't alone in the galaxy.**

 **Well, that's all I can say for now! _WLBtS_ is still very early in development, and the first chapter won't be released until after both _RtF_ and the _Unbreakable Bond_ trilogy is completed. But, hopefully this little teaser can hold you over until then!**


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